


The Life We Found

by Lady_Codswallop



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama & Romance, F/M, Humor, M/M, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Slow Burn, Smut, Spacebros, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, asgardians of the galaxy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 18:15:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 40,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19873951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Codswallop/pseuds/Lady_Codswallop
Summary: A few years after the Snap, the Avengers are trying hard to move on and get their acts together. After Tony Stark took in an orphaned Peter Parker and made up with his best friend, the idea that he could move forward became less like a dream and more like reality. Meanwhile, Thor, Quill, and Nebula are a reluctant family aboard the Benatar. They somehow manage to get along without killing each other. This is a colorful story filled with love, jokes, action, and sprinkles of serious drama. Oh, and smut.In this work, different people were dusted during the Snap. There are many new faces left living. It will continue until that fateful day Scott Lang pulls up to the compound offering the Avengers that little last bit of Time-Heist hope. After that? That's a whole other story.Updated Weekly





	1. Chapter 1

_November 9, 2020_

An Avenger stood in front of his office’s misty window, watching as sleet softly spat at the glass. Steve Rogers had one hand wrapped around a steamy cup of coffee, and the other was fiddling with some keys in his pocket. It had been a long week. Well, it was always a long week these days.

It was a Monday, but that didn’t really matter. Every day was blending together after the Battle of Wakanda—the Snap or the Blip as some of the younger people called it. He sipped his coffee, letting the steam moisten his noise, the taste reminding him of better times. Occasionally, he’d just eat or drink or do something that reminded him of what it was like before. A simple cup of coffee was a great way of boosting his mood. It reminded him of his mother—who somehow managed to keep the stuff in the house even during The Great Depression.

A sudden phone call pulled him from his thoughts, and he answered it immediately on habit.

“Hey Cap, where are you?”

“Hey, Rhodey. Home, why?” That is, the New Avengers Facility.

“Just wondering if Nat had any company. Wanted to let you know about that incident in St. Louis. It’s all good.”

Steve nodded to himself even though Rhodey couldn’t see him, “That’s great. I’m glad you let me know.”

"I’m headed out of the U.S. today. Nat gave me my orders.”

“Yeah?”

There was a soft almost-awkward pause before Rhodey spoke again. “Nat told me this morning that Tony’s been ignoring calls.”

Steve’s eyebrows furrowed as he put one hand on his hip and leaned so close to the window it fogged with his breath, eyes unfocused on the scene outside. “Still?”

“You know Nat. She worries. I know he doesn’t talk to you, but man he hasn’t been talking to me either. I can’t go check on him. I’m busy, and I know you just got back…but listen, I’m in no position to ask you this Steve, but I’m more than a little worried about him.”

“I am too. I always am,” Steve took a heavy, comforting drink of his coffee. After putting the cup on a nearby table, he leaned a forearm on the glass, looking down at his feet. He shut his eyes. Ever since Tony sent Peter away to university, everyone had been telling him Tony was getting more neurotic and withdrawn. Steve hoped to God he wasn’t drinking. Every time Steve came around Tony pushed him away. Tony was still sore over the Battle in Berlin and every other wrong thing that had happened between them. Would going to check on him make it worse? Would he even answer the door when Friday told him who was there?

“You know what I’m about to ask you.”

Steve flexed the fingers on one hand, squeezing them into a fist. A part of him was suddenly thankful he finally had a reason to talk to Tony—a real reason. Not just an, “I missed you Tony.” He did miss him. He missed him so much his heart hurt at the thought of seeing him. No matter what had happened between them, Cap was always the one ready to move on and just, be friends again. It was Tony who held onto the resentment like a bad cough.

“Steve?”

“I heard you, I’m…” a heavy breath, “I’ll do it. I’ll drive down there. Gimme a few days,” he’d need the time in the car to go over his thoughts. Tony’s cabin was less than 1,000 miles away, the drive would be good for him. It’d be sort of like a mini vacation.

“Thank you, man. God, I appreciate it,” Rhodey breathed, relief flooding his voice.

“I’m not God but you’re welcome,” he joked, trying to break the heavy air.

“Well, _some_ people beg to differ…Have you even been on the internet?”

They both laughed, and Cap chuckled, “Honestly? I try not to. Luckily, it’s not like you have that problem, huh? War Machine…who is that again?”

Rhodey made a noise somewhere between a scoff and an exasperated shout, “Excuse me? I am not getting this from you!”

“Oh you most certainly are,” Cap chortled to the window.

The two laughed for a second more as Rhodey said, “Hah hah, yeah, whatever, goodbye. Hey, better to be anonymous than a 100-year-old virgin, right?”

Cap didn’t have time to yell at him as the line went silent. He smirked at his phone and then quirked an eyebrow, shaking his head. Damn Tony for spreading that rumor—it should have died in 2012.

He looked at his reflection and a muscle in his jaw tensed.

Yeah, it was time to see Tony. He needed it.

\---

“Kiddo!”

“Yeah?” Peter turned around in his desk chair, face innocent as he feverishly tried to use his body to cover his computer screen. A pencil flew out of his hand like a little rocket while he scrambled to turn.

“Remember what I said about—are you looking at porn?” Tony grinned and his eyebrows practically flew into his hairline in something that looked kind of like joy.

“No! I mean, it’s just, it looks like that but it’s not—”

“Ohhhh, my God, I’m so proud of you! I was wondering when we’d have our first movie-quality awkward moment. I could cry.”

“It’s not porn!”

There were two shirtless men on the screen, their junk hanging out in front of Jesus and everybody. He’d been assigned to find naked human figures to draw for his art elective since their class had been canceled the week prior. Oh, he was dying, his face was pure red and his Spider-senses were going crazy from emotion. He’d gotten so used to Tony’s presence he barely set off his senses until he was too close.

“It was for my art class! I swear!”

“Awh, is this your way of coming out to me?” Peter could tell Tony was enjoying this way too much, he felt like jumping out of the window. He already knew Tony didn’t care if he was gay or not by him casually dropping it into a conversation one day when discussing Tony’s exes…He thought it was to avoid an actual coming out talk.

“Oh my god! Please, this is just an art project! What did you want?” He popped out of the chair and snatched up the pencil after he’d minimized his tab. He held up the drawing to Tony as proof he wasn’t being a pervert. “See?!”

Tony leaned forward, eyes trailing up and down the lines before he frowned and nodded in an approving fashion. “Pretty good, kid. To date this is possibly the best excuse to watch porn I’ve ever seen. God, I am just beaming. You are going to be so valuable in this economy. A fresh mind with fresh ideas.”

Peter made a helpless noise and hid his face behind his drawing. It didn’t matter if he was almost 18 years old, he felt like a 13 year-old again getting caught typing "boobies" into Google.

“I was wondering if you remembered what I’d said about dinner?”

He did. “Yeah! I’m already ready to go. See? I’m all dressed!”

“Alright, c’mon I’m hungry and I can’t go over 110 with you in the car in good conscience.”

They were going to actually go to a restaurant—a fancy one—together for the first time since August. Peter had caught a flight home that past weekend and had decided to stay a few extra days since if he wasn’t around Tony, he was super lonely (he was pretty sure Tony was pretty lonely too). It was too painful for him to think about everyone in his life that wasn’t there but being around Tony made him feel so much better. He’d wanted to go to a school here in Georgia, but Tony forced him to go to the best school he could think of, his alma mater: MIT, i.e. the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was hard, but he was already in a pre-master’s program. Ever since Mr. Stark had began to really show him the ropes of what it took to be the owner of a corporation—although Tony barely managed his own company anymore—and Iron man, he’d really began applying himself. He was so proud to learn that with the proper motivation he was really capable of absorbing everything.

Plus, it was hard to be sad when there were tests and studying to be done all the time, it really kept his mind off of things. Well, it kind of did…It helped. What really helped was Mr. Stark. Ever since everyone in Peter’s life had been dusted, every single person he knew, Tony had taken it upon himself to take him in. So many children were parentless when the Snap happened that the process for people to become legal guardians was legally laxed, especially if the children were actually teenagers capable of making educated decisions. Stark had sat him down and adopted him not long after he’d called Happy, completely inconsolable about a month after they’d gotten back to Earth. Since Nebula, Quill, and Tony kept giving their rations to the kid, he was in much better shape than they were when they were stuck in space. All four of them were in a sorry state by the time Captain Marvel showed up. Thank God Quill had a huge stock pile of space candy. They’d all formed a pretty spectacular bond by the end of the whole ordeal, especially since he’d found ways to make Nebula make this noise that sounded kind of a like a laugh.

Peter watched Tony leave his room and hopped up to follow. Sometimes when he saw one of the few Lego sets he’d kept on his shelf, and they’d remind him of everything he didn’t like to think about. Peter didn’t like to think about how long he waited in an empty house, foolishly hoping May would come home as he ate whatever he could find in the pantries, playing alone with Legos and watching old DVDs. Finally, he’d broke down and frantically called Happy, crying so hard that by the time Happy got there he’d thrown up three times and had been passed out for who-knows-how-long. This whole life felt like a dream, but it wasn’t always a nightmare.

Peter was so ecstatic to be Stark’s actual adopted son. He just wished it would have happened under very different circumstances. He’d trade everything in the world to get his family, his friends, his anything back. Still, the best part of this new, strange life was having a father figure that cared about him so much. No, a father. In his mind, Stark had become his father. He didn’t replace the father he’d already had, but in his mind he had two, and that was okay.

“Chop-chop kiddo, what are you even doing right now?”

The kid had spaced out thinking about Ned and by the time he snapped out of it he looked a little sheepish. “Sorry! Distracted!”

“Don’t make a habit of it or I’ll sell your car,” Stark said as they both headed down the stairs together.

Peter snorted and laughed, “Please don’t?”

“Oh, yes I love it how that still works. Live in fear,” Stark said, scritch-scratching his beard with a sly look.

The pair had just entered the living room when Friday spoke to them.

“Mr. Stark, we have a visitor. Steve Rogers has just gotten out of his car.”

Both Peter and Tony stopped. Peter first looked excited, squintily confused, and then suspicious. He knew for a fact Tony was still really mad at Cap. What could be so important that he’d come here and willingly talk to him? Peter wished they’d be friends again, it was obvious this separation made Tony sad. Tony and Peter needed each other more than ever, and even Peter knew that they were each other’s one true tether to life. Tony had lost his world, his Pepper. But Spider-Man knew Cap was special to him. Maybe this was a good thing? Or really really bad.

Tony pursed his lips looking mildly constipated. “Uh, huh. Well. Okay, tell him no one’s home.”

“He’s already at the front door, Sir. My system urges me to insist you to at least find out what he is here for.”

“Did he sprint?” Peter asked looking up at Tony. “He’s so fast!”

There was a polite-but-loud knock echoing from the front door.

Peter shouted, “No one’s home!”

Tony looked at him and sighed. “You’re fired.”

“From what?”

Meanwhile, he heard Friday reiterate that no one was home to their unwanted guest. Peter heard Captain Rogers calling, “Hello? Is Tony there?”

Tony mumbled, “Not really,” to no one in particular, only Peter heard it probably.

Looking at Tony, Peter decided to answer the door to just get it all over with. Besides! He’d really missed Steve. He’d began to think of him like an uncle…as weird as it was that he was even able to think of Captain America like an uncle after once trying to beat him with webs in Berlin.

“Uh, hi Captain Rogers!” Peter said, staring up at _the_ Captain America himself. Every time he saw him he felt like he might poop his pants a little. Would that ever wear off?

Mr. Rogers looked down at him with a pleasantly surprised expression. “Peter, hi. How are you?”

“Oh, I’m good. We’re good. How are you? What’s wrong? Is something bad happening?”

Blinking once, Steve smirked and held up a hand in a calming gesture. “Good. I’m fine. And no, Peter, everything’s alright. Where’s Tony?”

If nothing was wrong…why was he here? To patch up things? That would be such a relief. Maybe, it was okay to be a little shit-starter if it was for a good cause.

“Phew! That is great news Mr. Rogers. He’s here, wanna come in?”

Steve nodded, coming in as Peter moved aside. Just as his left foot crossed the threshold, his eyes locked with Tony’s.

“Hey, Tony…”

“…Hey, Cap.”

“Can we talk?”


	2. Chapter 2

The two Avengers (plus an Avenger junior) stood in the living room of the nice cabin, just staring at each other. After a long hard staring contest, Iron Man finally decided to talk.

“Depends. What’s going on?” Tony’s expression was unreadable.

“Rhodey wanted to know how you were doing. I realized I did too. It’s fine that you’re not answering anyone’s calls. Something’s going on, I get it.” Steve really didn’t expect Peter to be home, but he thought it explained some of the behavior Nat and Rhodey saw as worrying. Tony could ignore people when he was having a good time or working hard, and without Pepper to remind him that other people exist…

Tony cocked his head slightly, eyes hardening.

“But then I realized we hadn’t seen each other in over two years. That’s too long, Tony. I miss you. I really do. If something had happened to you, I wouldn’ta been the first one to know it and that just feels wrong.” He’d vaguely thought about what he’d wanted to say on the drive down…even if he hadn’t expected to spill it in the middle of a living room. “I wish I could say sorry for the whole Accords incident, but I can’t. I stand by the decisions I made then, but I am sorry for what it’s done to us and Rhodey. I don’t regret a lot of things, but one thing I do regret was not doing this earlier.” Cap’s expression was earnest and his fists were clenched.

God it felt good to talk to Tony. Even if he was more or less talking at him.

“I just really want us to talk again. I’ve been worried about you. I know you’ve got a life here and I’m real happy for you. I don’t want to change any of that. I’m not asking you to come back to the base, I just wish there was something I could do to—”

“I’m gonna stop you right there, Cap.”

Steve did stop, blinking once and taking a steady breath. This conversation made him feel like he was fighting some sort of battle, it was just so personally important to him. He knew from the moment he’d hopped in his car that he was going to do more than just check on the man. He wanted him back in his life and hadn’t realized that he’d needed a push.

Iron Man stared at him for a good long minute and then shook his head once, looking at a stunned Peter.

“I am literally starving to death here—trust me, I know what it feels like—and so’s the kid.” Tony said as he was already walking straight past Steve and out of the door.

The blond watched him for only a moment before following him.

“Friday, call the place, tell ‘em it’s three instead of two.”

“Of course, Mr. Stark.”

Peter followed behind after them and hopped into the backseat of Tony’s dark red Nissan GT-R before Steve could even think about a seat.

Steve had his hands on his hips, looked down at the door and then at Tony over the hood of the car.

“What are you waiting for? Get your star-spangled ass in, you’re coming to dinner if you want to spend time with me so bad. Nothing is keeping the kid and I from our reservation. Not even this conversation—which, by the way—I really didn’t want to have today.”

Steve should’ve been surprised or something, but he was really just grateful. He was pretty certain this was going well. Hopping in the car, there was a small silence before he opened his mouth to speak and then double-chinned as his head was forced back into his headrest by Tony gunning it out of the driveway. He’d wished he could say he missed Tony’s driving.

For about three minutes there was a heavy, awkward silence filled only by the sound of Peter’s thumbs tapping on his phone.

“So...will you think about it?” Steve asked, looked over at Tony in the driver’s seat. Steve’s eyes softened as he looked at him. He looked so much better than the last few times he’d seen him. His face was fuller, his suit jacket was more filled out, and his skin looked clear. Cap could also smell the familiar lingering scent of expensive cologne and hair product that was always unique to the other man. It made his chest feel heavy.

Tony took a deep breath and turned to glance at Steve before staring at the road intensely. “I did think about it.”

“Yeah?”

“Been real busy, Cap. Had things going on. But, it turns out, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it.”

Cap nodded, “Me too.”

There was a new silence between them, one that was more comfortable. It was broken by the very loud and obnoxious sound of Peter’s stomach growling.

Chuckling, Stark met Peter’s sheepish eyes in the rearview mirror. “No, we’re not there yet.” Peter noticed there was a glossy quality to Tony’s eyes, even though his mouth was smirking.

“So…gonna tell me about those things you’ve been up to Tony? I’d love to hear some of them.”

“Been putting Peter through school. Making new tech. Constantly being 100% cooler than the other parents. Right, Pete?”

Peter laughed and nodded. “The coolest, always.”

Tony gave Peter a genuine smile that Cap wasn’t for sure if he was imagining or not. The two had really grown close if Tony was already referring to himself as Peter’s parent. If someone would have asked, Cap wouldn’t have thought Tony would ever be ready to be a dad. But then again, he supposed a lot of things could change when the world went to shit.

“A lot of kids aren’t being forced to go to school until they’re ready, but Mr. Parker here’s got himself a future business to run, so I put my proverbial foot down.”

Steve’s eyes widened only slightly, yet again immensely surprised by everything coming out of his mouth. He looked at Tony’s face and then turned to look at Peter in the backseat, who was smiling broadly.

Steve had been wondering why he hadn’t seen more Spider-Man in the news. The kid was busy, busy learning how to take over an empire. It seemed daunting, but he knew the kid, and he was certain he could take it.

The next thirty minutes were filled mostly with Tony telling Cap all about what he and Peter had been up to—but mostly about what the kid was doing. Steve felt a fullness that he wasn’t quite sure how to describe, it really seemed like Tony genuinely loved Peter even more than he’d thought he did. It was such a new side of him. It was wonderful, seeing him like this.

“So I have to ask, you’re still gonna be Spider-Man, right Peter?” Steve asked as he opened the door for the kid, finally arriving at the restaurant.

Peter threw his arms away from his sides, palms up. “What!? Of course! I just gotta learn how to do my day job first. Are you gonna stop being Captain America!?”

Steve laughed, his eyebrows going up. “Not likely. Unless I can’t do my job anymore.”

“He means if he dies or gets old, squirt. Can you even get old?” Tony made a funky gesture pointing at Cap with his index finger as they all made their way into a fancy country club. It was dark outside now, but Steve was pretty sure there were huge golf courses just beyond the tree line.

Steve shrugged; he really didn’t know. It had been years since he had gotten the serum, and other than his hair getting darker near the base of his skull and temples, and some wrinkles becoming more visible, he didn’t _feel_ older. “I can’t say. I’m sure I will.”

“Can you imagine? An old guy Captain America?” Peter grinned, mimicking the way Steve liked to stand with his shield. “I can do this all day—until my Xanax kicks in…oh, my back!”

Cap stopped walking and then just turned with an expression looking half genuinely offended and half humored. Peter ran ahead yelling something that sounded like, “Not sorry!” And Tony actually just started laughing. He was laughing in that somewhat high-pitched way that melted Cap’s heart. He missed him so much. He found himself laughing too, besides himself. Mr. Parker’s gotten some nerve, he liked it.

They all walked into the snazzy country club and had a fantastic dinner, small-talking like nothing had changed. It was surreal for all of them, Steve was certain. Every now and then there’d be a small shift in their conversation that bordered on uncomfortable, but that was to be expected. As Steve ate his steak and watched Peter and Tony laugh together, he was more assured than ever that even though the Avengers had failed, the world could continue.

He didn’t know if he could ever get a taste of that life Nat was always telling him to get, but at least he could experience it secondhand by being a part of Tony’s life again. It turned out, not everyone had to be miserable.

\---

_Three Months Later_

“That’s when I said, why don’t we just scrap the carbide, and substitute the alien stuff? Like, that Starguy said we’d get a few I.O.U.s! And that’s how I helped make—ta-daa!”

Peter, whose hair was messier than usual, was gesturing wildly to a glowing box with a shiny cloud of nano-particles swirling about. They were in the (actually very) secret garage underneath Tony’s cabin. It was three stories down, humongous, and had three hidden entrances; one in the house, one super long tunnel that went all the way to the other side of the woods, and one that rose up and opened in the middle of the lake near the cabin. It reminded him of an old SHIELD base, it was pretty neat.

Steve had his arms crossed and was sitting in a chair watching Peter explain things that were far beyond his paygrade. He reminded him so much of Tony it was kind of scary. But his humor was more wholesome and he wasn’t nearly as self-destructive. Tony was actually asleep upstairs. Ever since their dinner a few months back, he’d made it a point to visit Tony (and sometimes Peter when he was home) at least twice a month.

“It’s…very impressive. What is it?”

“It’s the, well it’s my, ah new prototype suit! Ever since I learned the tech, I have been really into making it better, right? So this one is made of nanobots, but I’ve been tweaking things. It’s so fun being a real scientist Mr. Rogers.”

Steve smiled and nodded approvingly, “You’re good at it.”

“So! Tony wanted a suit that could handle space. For like, a long time right? And I was like, ‘Why not space stuff?!’ And so he’s making his version, and I’m making mine. You should see what his can do, it’s incredible…but I’m pretty proud of mine so far. Y’know how in submarines the soldiers have soda lime all over the place to absorb carbon dioxide? Well, it can’t convert it to oxygen, but I was thinking—what if there was a space chemical that could do that, and run off of your body heat? Turns out—there’s not! There’s stuff that’s _even better_!”

Steve watched him, his super-soldier brain somehow keeping up with his words. He was proud of him. The kid was a living testament that the new generation was going to be better, smarter, and different even after all that had happened. Steve was glad to see it. As he sat watching him his mind drifted slowly to the man who’d fallen asleep upstairs. He and Tony had had a bit to drink last night, and one of them wasn’t exactly a super soldier. They’d stayed up all night trying as hard as possible not to talk about things before the Snap. They’d laughed together. He’d seen that friendly-vulnerable side of Tony that he didn’t know he’d missed so much after all these years. He could tell Tony’d missed him too, and for the first time since Thanos, things felt something close to great.

“Wanna see me put it on?”

Steve nodded, “Go for it.” He was watching Peter absently, but his mind was stuck on how Tony’s shirt rode up last night so far he could see his underwear and the hair line that disappeared beneath the hem of them. Steve was pulled from his thoughts whenever Peter clapped his wrists together after putting on two things that looked like fitness watches. From them came a suit that trailed up his arms quietly, going all the way from his wrists and hands to his feet. Finally, the suit melted up around his head, forming the typical spider-eyes he was used to seeing. This suit was black and red, with a few hints of white. It was very impressive. He moved around a little bit and then the suit began disappearing to his wrists and back.

“So it all comes from your wrists?” He stood, always taken away by Tony’s (and now Peter’s) tech.

“No! I mean kind of, some of them, but actually most of them come from here.” Peter lifted up his shirt and revealed a thin arc reactor resting on his back that was more rectangular and covered with metal so it wasn’t glowing. “This is for if I ever need it, y’know? This is where the powerful ones are, we’re still working on them. It’s so flat I don’t feel it! Kinda tickles when they come out though…I wanted to put a tattoo there shaped like my symbol but Tony said that was tacky.” Peter rolled his eyes.

Steve smiled, “It suits you. You did a great job, Peter.” The kid beamed at him and then began to blabber on gesturing wildly to Tony’s “super-secret” suit project.

“Say Peter, why don’t I take you to get something to eat? Wanna take a ride on my motorcycle?” Steve smiled warmly. Peter nodded.

“Take a ride…with Captain America…on his motorcycle? Pft, who wouldn’t want that?!” He ran upstairs so fast Steve wondered if he’d hurt himself. “Hell yeah!”

“Hey Friday, when Tony wakes up tell ‘im I took Peter out.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Rogers.”

\---

Tony growled softly, feeling like he’d been hit by not just one, but two trucks.

“Friday…er…what time is it?” He groaned, head pounding, body weighing a million pounds. That was the last time he was _ever_ drinking with that unit.

“It’s 4 o’clock, Sir.”

Rubbing a hand up and down his face, Tony got up so fast his head lurched. “What?”

“It’s 4 o’clock, Sir. Wednesday.”

Oh, shit. He had so much to do and he slept until dinner? “Damn, wow, alright. Where’s the kid? He still in the lab? When did Steve go home?”

“Mr. Roger’s has currently taken Peter into town for lunch.”

Tony blinked. Well that was nice of him.

“Cool. Alright, time to get to work. Friday, put on Van Halen. I’m feeling Panama today. 15% volume, I’ve got a headache.” Tony rolled out of bed, downing a few pills to help his head and taking the world’s hottest shower. When finished, he immediately went down the stairs to work on his newest project, the Mark 87. Ever since the kid convinced him to use intergalactic materials—he almost didn’t, it was a pride thing—he’d scrapped the entire Mark 86. The suit Thanos had whipped his ass in (i.e. Mark 85), well he’d shot the thing into an incinerator. He didn’t want any part of it. It was a reminder of his failure. Whenever he even thought about it, he had flashbacks of Thanos, holding his head, certain the titan was going to crush his skull like an egg. Maybe he should have. It would have been easier than losing Pepper.

As he sat down in a loose pair of jeans and a black tank to work on his new armor, he caught sight of Peter’s Mark 2 armor charging house (Peter’s Mark 1 had exploded). His eyes softened. Peter. The one and only reason he probably hadn’t drowned himself in alcohol by now. After some time working, Tony’s stomach growled. The more he aged the harder it was to ignore it.

“Ugh.”

He went upstairs and made himself a massive and sugary protein shake, probably worse for him than better. Then, he went to his gym area and began to bench some weights since he needed to clear his head. If Peter wasn’t here, he probably would’ve let himself go to shit, just like the planet…but there was no way he could let his guard down. What if something worse than Thanos came? He’d be ready, he’d probably lose again, but maybe he could keep the kid alive. That was really all that mattered.

Tony was in the best shape of his life, he somehow had his best friend back, and had a kid who thought the world of him. Even though the Avengers had failed, he felt happier than he had in a long time. If he was anyone else he might have felt guilty about how satisfied with his life he was, but he didn’t, he was past that.

“Sir? Mr. Rogers and Peter are almost home.”

“Gotcha.”

His muscles were burning and it was about time to call it quits anyway. Popping up he grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off his face. He made his way to the living room and moved a curtain with a finger. He watched as Steve rode up with Peter’s arms wrapped around his waist. They both got off and thankfully it seemed Cap had convinced the kid to wear a helmet. The two were laughing and Peter was gesturing wildly with his hands about something.

He let himself smile, eyes crinkling deeply as he watched the way Steve easily put his hand on Peter’s shoulder, leading him to the house and instantly treating him like he’d been a part of the family since 2012.

His heart hammered and his jaw muscles tensed. God damn that Steve.

“Welcome home Peter. Welcome back Mr. Rogers.”

The pair were walking in the door, both of them laughing so adorably it made Tony feel many things at once. It had been a long time since he’d seen Steve laugh like that with his sweet eyes and easy smile. He could go from bad-ass to precious so quick it was infuriating.

“Thanks, Friday. Oh, Tony, hey,” Steve threw a (frankly cute as fuck) smile his way and did that one-sided smirk thing that used to make his arc reactor feel like it wasn’t doing its job.

“What’s up Cap? Oof—” Peter hugged him and then threw himself on the sofa. “Hey, Pete.”

“So…Can I get a motorcycle?”

Tony blinked. That tight-wearing son of a bitch.

“No.”

“Awh, Tony! You know I’m a good driver!”

Steve chuckled apologetically and sat on the sofa too.

Tony sighed, the kid was a great freaking driver even without his spider-sense. Still didn’t mean he liked the sound of it at all. “Maybe. Graduate first.”

Peter nodded. “Good enough!” He popped up and left the two alone to run off to some part of the house.

“So you come here just to give him a death wish or what?”

The blond looked over at him and shrugged, “Nah. Thought I’d show him a good time. I miss him too. We did eat bad food though, that’s on me. Steak ‘n Shake just sounded good.”

“You took him to a Steak ‘n Shake? Wow. Why don’t you get him a Happy Meal next?”

“Don’t like McDonald’s.”

“What? But you know you are Captain _America_ right?”

Steve rose an eyebrow. “Nothing beats a good diner burger.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “God, you are so old. Next I’ll be seeing minions on your Facebook.”

“What?”

“I reiterate; ancient.”

“Yeah?” Steve threw his arm over the back of the couch and looked up at Tony, still smirking.

Steve wasn’t blatantly ogling him, but he swore it looked like the other man was staring at the beads of cooling sweat on his neck and forehead. Those blue eyes flicked down for just a moment at his body and then went innocently to a nearby painting.

Tony bit his lip for a second before sitting with half of his butt on a stool and watching Cap.

“You ever think about that night in Rochester?”


	3. That Night in Rochester

_2016_

“Fuck me, who would have guessed this place had beef shawarma,” Tony said to everyone as he straight up downed a cheap and crappy European beer. Cap, Tony, and Sam had stopped by a Mediterranean place on their way back from saving the state from some batshit Swiss guy bent on anti-patriotism. They got the guy, Karl something, and all of his accomplices. It was routine, laughable really. The armor had some scratches but they were all fine.

“You guys and your freakin’ shawarma. I swear.” Sam grinned, having already downed a few beers too many.

Tony leaned forward. He’d bought out the whole restaurant, so no one was here to take pictures of them. “Of course, you wouldn’t get it Sam. You’re not an original Avenger. Sorry.”

Sam threw his arms up. “Oh! Oh! Aight, that’s how it is?”

“Yep. Sure is,” Tony slurred, already working on another bottle.

“I may not be an original Avenger but at least my hair’s not gray, old man!”

Tony, genuinely offended stood up. “Excuse me, Bird Shits?”

Sam just laughed at him and Cap was smiling. Tony felt sorry for Cap, it sucked not being able to get drunk. Guess he cried like a baby about it, using his huge manly super-serum muscles to wipe away the tears. Asshole. Tony smirked to himself.

Later than night, two out of three Avengers were drunk enough that it was good cause just to chill in a local hotel for the night. There was some sort of festival thing happening tonight that Tony prayed wouldn’t keep him up, but he didn’t really care. Normally he’d like a good night out, but he was sort of drinking to forget Pepper leaving him for the umpteenth time…and it felt good to be in a place that was as far from home (in a sense) as possible. Tony had been overseeing that new augmented reality tech, and it only made him want to drink more. Everything made him want to drink these days.

The last thing Tony remembered seeing before he blacked the hell out was an actually really gorgeous red and peach sunset from their high hotel window…and maybe the sound of a Febreze add playing on the crappy TV.

\---

“—next time on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives—”

“Mhhm…?”

Tony sat up with insane hair smelling like beer and bad choices. The sound of the TV was so loud all of a sudden. He scrambled for the remote, squinting in the dark at the keys before he finally just turned the TV off.

“Shit, Friday what time is it?”

“It’s 1 AM, Sir.”

“Feels like it.” He rubbed his face and looked outside. There was a lot of activity happening at ground level but he didn’t really care. As long as that activity didn’t come up here. He heard Sam snoring quietly.

When his eyes had adjusted and he really looked around, he noticed Steve wasn’t in here. That was weird.

“Friday, where’s Rogers?”

“Mr. Rogers left the room at about 10 PM, Sir. He hasn’t been back since.”

“Tell me where he’s at.”

“He’s in the hotel, Sir.”

“Where?”

“It seems he’s a few floors below you at the event this evening.”

“What event?”

“Rochester’s April Inclusive Mixer Bash occurring this April 1st through 3rd.”

“What?” That didn’t make any damn sense.

“Why?”

“I don’t know, Sir.”

Why in the hell was Steve at an event like that? Maybe he just wanted free beer. Maybe he was bored? There was trouble afoot? Someone forgot to say, “Please,” or “Thank you?”

“Uhh…” Tony blinked and then shook his head, grabbing a shower and the saddest excuse for a cup of coffee he’d had in months. “I’m gonna go save him. Jesus, I’m sure every gay man this side of the East Coast is holding him hostage…If Sam starts choking or some crap in his sleep you know what to do.”

“Of course.”

He made his way down to the first floor of the hotel and immediately regretted ever being born.

Even at this time of night, the first floor was playing music, there were people everywhere yelling and talking, someone shot a streamer popper a little too close to him, and he was pretty sure he saw an underage kid shot-gunning a beer. The sheer amount of decorations honestly made him feel like he was tripping on something.

He tried calling and texting Steve, but the other man didn’t answer.

“Hmph.”

“Oh my god, you look just like Tony Stark.” A woman in a graphic tee and black leather pants said to him. “That’s freaking rad.”

He nodded, already wanting to go back to Avengers HQ. “Get that all the time.” He felt and looked like shit and hadn’t shaven in a few days, it wouldn’t surprise him if he lost a Tony Stark look-alike contest right now. For good measure he hid near a hallway, pulling up his Avenger emergency locator on his phone. It would tell him where Steve was. Jesus, he was used to this sort of thing, but how was Steve handling this? The actual Captain America? Poor guy, modern mixers are just an excuse to get drunk and smash.

Tony followed the phone up a few stories before it pinged behind a wall. So, Steve or just Steve’s phone were a little farther.

Tony turned a corner and his eyes went wide. He blinked once or twice to make sure what he was seeing was real and he wasn’t just straight up dying or something.

He saw Steve from the side, pinning another man against a door and kissing him deeply. The pair were as quiet as they could be, bodies pressed close and mouths open and hot for each other. The guy had his hands in Steve’s hair and on his ass, and Steve had his arms wrapped around the bigger guy’s waist. They were kissing so passionately and wetly, the very sight shot straight to Tony’s groin before he could do anything about it. His heart slammed itself against his ribcage and he stopped breathing for a good few seconds.

He heard Steve make a quiet noise somewhere between a moan and a sigh. The sound was so small and god damn beautiful he took a step back saying, “What the fuck,” mostly against will.

Steve immediately jerked his head away from his current partner and stepped away from the guy in a second’s beat.

The two locked eyes and Tony didn’t think he’d ever seen something so wrong and right in his whole life. Steve Rogers was standing there with wet lips and pink cheeks which were turning redder by the second. His hair was mussed, there was an obvious tent in his jeans, and he looked so panicked and beautiful all at once Tony just wanted to scream at him.

The other guy leaned away from the wall, looking at Tony too with a look that seemed more pissed off than anything else.

“Whoops, uh. Just came to make sure you were alright. You clearly are, yeah I’m gonna go upstairs.” Tony practically ran upstairs. Normally he’d have made a joke and handled that situation in a way that was completely hilarious and asshole-ish, but this time he couldn’t. Something about Cap’s expression and…his mind was a mess. Cap was gay? There were very few things that ever surprised Tony, and considering that Captain Freaking America carried around a picture of a chick he barely knew like some love-struck virgin for God-knows-how-long he just didn’t even know what to feel.

Somehow he managed to make it back to the hotel room.

After about twenty minutes, the door to the room opened and Cap’s silhouette just stood in the doorway.

“Tony?”

Tony jumped, having been staring intently at his phone as a distraction. He looked over to where he knew Cap’s eyes were even though his face was framed only with the soft hallway lighting.

“Yeah, Cap?”

“Will you come out here for a second.”

Tony’s own curiosity got the better of him and he somehow managed to get the lead out of his feet and actually walk over there to Cap.

When the pair got in the hallway together the air was heavy and completely tense. Tony held up his hands, “My bad. Cock blocked you Cap, whoopsie. I guess it’s payback,” Iron Man said easily, even though he wanted to ask a million questions.

Steve’s eyes were hard and his jaw was tensing, he had his arms crossed too. He looked visibly surprised by Iron Man’s nonchalance. “I didn’t mean to put you in such an uncomfortable position.”

Tony blinked and then made a hand gesture, just splurting out his thoughts. “When were you going to tell me you were gay?”

Steve’s shook his head once, tensely. “Probably never. I’m not…I mean, I like women too.”

“What the hell were you doing down there?”

“I was just curious to what kind of party they were having. I was shocked to see so much…freedom of expression. There were men and women holding hands and dancing,” Cap’s eyes softened. “It was nice. I’d seen it on the television, and in movies sometimes these days, but I’d never seen how far we’ve really come with my own two eyes. Sometimes it feels good be reminded of what all these battles we keep fighting are for in the first place.” Cap put his hands on his hips and looked down. “It wasn’t like this where I’m from, you know that. I mean, you would’ve gotten arrested for holding another man’s hand.”

Tony suddenly felt guilty. Did Cap think he was mad or disappointed somehow?

“I’m sorry Tony I should’ve told you. I don’t like to talk about this sort of thing. I didn’t mean for you to see that.” Steve held his arms closer to himself, still not looking away from Tony’s face. “Thank you for checking on me.”

“Hey! Cap, it’s fine. You were just exploring your sexuality right? I mean it’s 2016, gay marriage was legalized a year ago. I get it. Weird-ass place to do it, but I get it.” Tony said, trying to make him feel calm. He never came out to his own father or mother. The only person that knew he was bisexual when he was younger was Jarvis. Jarvis had held him when he pretended he wasn’t upset, and maybe Rogers needed some validation too. “The whole world knows I’m bisexual Steve. It’s fine. Who you choose to sleep with is none of my business.” Tony’s heart lurched.

He’d never given any thought to the fact Steve could like men. He’d been crushing on the blond even when he resented him.

“I’m…bisexual.” Steve said it more to himself than anyone else.

“That’s great, me too. We have so much in common. Next you’re gonna tell me you’re an Avenger.”

Steve gave him a veiled irritated look, but then nodded. “It just feels good to say.”

“Say it all you want. Are we gonna see Captain America at the next Pride parade?”

Cap blinked once, still looking tense. “No, I don’t think so.”

“So you’re not a 100 year-old virgin?”

Steve blushed giving Iron Man such a chastising and cute look it should have been illegal, “Tony.”

“Yeah, everyone knows that’s my name.” There was a pause where Cap licked his lips and then stared down at the floor, taking a small breath and letting those long, lovely eyelashes brush his cheeks with every blink.

“Y’know what, never mind I don’t want to know.” He really didn’t. Jealousy boiled up inside of him and he was actually surprised at himself about how intense he was starting to feel.

Looking relieved, Steve took a few steps closer. “Are we alright?”

Tony blinked really feeling like a piece of shit suddenly for cock-blocking poor Steve and feeling jealous on top of that. Maybe the poor guy really was a 100 year-old virgin, and he didn’t know what it was like to love without a war or he’d never gotten to express his sexuality or something. It was actually really sad.

Although it was hard for him to be too sad with that image of Cap’s wet, parted lips still burned into his brain. And that fucking expression of _want_ clouded with surprise may haunt his every waking wet-dream but sure.

“Of course we’re alright Steve. Why wouldn’t we be?”

Steve smirked with one side of his mouth. It was a lovely thing, and suddenly Tony felt exceptionally proud of him. “Why don’t you go tell Nat or Sam? It’ll make you feel better, I promise.”

“Yeah, why don’t you?”

Both Steve and Tony turned around to see Sam watching them from the doorway.

How long had he been standing there?

_Present Day_

The very image of Steve holding another man to the wall and kissing the crap out of him kept Tony company late at night. Even when they were fighting. He wished he could feel bad about it, but he really didn’t. That night had opened a flood gate of strange sexual tension between them that lasted all the way up until Cap broke his heart figuratively and literally with that damned shield.

Water under the bridge.

Steve turned to him with a shadowy look that only lasted half a second. “Why would you ask me that?”

“What? That wasn’t such a bad night. ‘Sides, Nat let it slip to me that the only thing you ever do other than visit me is sleep and do group counseling. That’s sad. You could at least go on a date for fuck’s sake. It’s 2020, live a little.”

The blond’s face was stony. “Don’t really want to.”

“If you tell me that you’re too busy, I might actually throw something at you.”

Steve looked up, no anger in his eyes. “I really appreciate your concern Tony, but I’m alright. What about you?”

Tony’s heart lurched. He was so lonely, but he was also still mourning Pepper.

“That’s what I thought,” Steve said, responding to the look on his face.

That noise that he’d heard escape Cap’s lips that night echoed in his brain and he straightened up. “Whatever, I need a shower. You leaving?”

Cap watched him with an expression he didn’t care to decipher. “Yeah, guess I will.” Steve watched him go, came over to him and clapped him on the shoulder. “It was good seeing you.”

Tony blinked, looking at the other man’s large, strong hand and nodded. “Yeah, ditto.” Once the warmth of Cap’s hand and blue-eyed gaze was gone, he felt like he could breathe again. It should be illegal for humans to go around looking and acting as sweet as that 1940s d-hole.


	4. Chapter 4

_Two Years Later_

“Oh, hey you two. Am I interrupting something?” Nat said, something like a smile on her face as she sat on the couch in between Steve and Bucky. She leaned on Bucky, and then put one of her legs in Steve’s lap. He patted her shins and left his hand there, cocking his head a little and chuckling at her.

“Nah, we were just talking about you,” Steve said, looking over her red head and meeting Bucky’s eyes.

Bucky nodded, “All bad things, I promise.” Wrapping his arms around her shoulders he pulled her in to kiss the top of her head. Nat closed her eyes and cuddled up close to the brunet, pulling a blanket over her waist and sighing. He smelled her hair for a moment.

Steve nodded, “Yep. Horrible.” He stretched and leaned back on the couch, a heavy breath peacefully leaving him.

“Well, when you two are done bad mouthing me, maybe you’d like to eat dinner? I made it all by myself.”

Bucky rose an eyebrow, “Let me guess…you made grilled cheeses? Boxed mac ‘n cheese? Something pre-made with cheese?”

“Ugh, no you ass!” Nat smacked his thick chest and sat up, looking offended. “I made spaghetti. With garlic bread.”

“And cheese?” Bucky said, crossing his arms.

“Well yeah, who the hell makes garlic bread and doesn’t put cheese on it?” Nat rolled her eyes and then gestured for them to follow her as she got up and took the blanket with her. Steve hopped up and followed her. Bucky watched them go, following behind slowly.

This was so simple, but a lot of things weren’t. He still couldn’t believe he was getting emails from some intergalactic starguy and his angry blue robot lady, but that’s just how it was these days. He couldn’t believe a lot of things.

Especially how much he was enjoying life right now. He had his best friend back and Nat. There was really nothing else in the entire world Bucky had ever wanted. Whether or not he felt like he deserved how happy his life was didn’t matter.

He watched Nat prattle on to Steve, more joy in her eyes than he’d seen in months. She was beautiful, radiant, and the best thing to happen to him other than Steve Rogers. For the first year after the Snap he’d spent a lot of time out of the country helping the Avengers that were left deal with the aftermath of the Snap. It was only a few years after that that Steve was somehow able to convince him to stay in the United States. He had been a real pain in Natasha’s ass. Their relationship was purely accidental. It had all started when he caught her ballet dancing in the firing range. The very memory made him smile.

Bucky tried to forget the day he told Steve how it was between him and Nat. He remembered the pure and genuine happiness in Steve’s voice. But Bucky had known him long enough to also notice the veiled guilt tugging at the blond’s face. Steve was his best friend, the two loved each other more than anything in the world.

The thought brought back a swell of emotions the man desperately tried to ignore. Bucky felt horrible that he didn’t love Steve the way the other man so desperately wanted him to. They didn’t talk about it. They had kissed once long ago when Steve was still cute and small, and it was nice. But for Bucky, it wasn’t what he wanted for them—it was too weird. He still thought of Steve like a brother. It was magic for Steve who was so broken when Bucky eventually admitted he didn’t feel the same, that it had made the other man wish beyond all reason that he really was gay, just for Stevie. But he couldn’t. He just didn’t feel the same and couldn’t force it. And Steve being Steve, well, he didn’t let it ruin them. They were stronger than that.

Thankfully they were able to mostly move past it, and the fact that they’d shared something so naughty, so forbidden, really made them even closer. Bucky was Steve’s one and only confidant after that, and vice versa. He had had secrets to burden Steve with too of course, and right up until he’d fallen to what should have been his death, they’d been closer than ever.

To him, even when Steve became Captain America, he still saw his Stevie, the tiny little 95 pound spitfire. The body he was in was just his personality personified, and Bucky had always thought the tiny scrapper was larger than life. He had deserved so much better than being a slave for the government, but it was what he’d wanted. Bucky was happy his tiny blond kickass from Brooklyn had realized his full potential and was stopping the kind of bullies no one else could.

As they all sat there and ate a five-star canned spaghetti sauce dinner, things felt right. He and Steve were alright, even after all that had happened. Somehow, they were still brothers. If someone would have asked him which of them would have figuratively settled down first, Bucky would have definitely not chosen himself. Yet here he was, left knee bumping Natasha’s to a cute secret rhythm, giving her looks whenever she met his eye. She needed Bucky, and he didn’t realize how badly he’d needed her. Her emotions were coiled up tightly within her, especially with all that stuff going on with Clint. Bucky was just thankful she’d found purpose doing the one job that was harder than all of the rest—being the head of the Avengers.

They spent many days like this, just the three of them at home in the Avengers compound unless duty called (of course other staff still worked there too, but they were the only resident Avengers left on-call). It was a strange sort of bliss he couldn’t have properly explained to anyone. It was January 2023 and they’d all spent Christmas together like one big happy family. Even Tony had stopped by, somehow able to spend more than ten minutes in Bucky’s presence without making a rude comment. It seemed the Iron Man finally realized that even though his body killed his parents, his mind was just an observer locked in a meaty prison. Or, for the sake of the others, maybe Iron Man had just controlled himself. He still ignored Bucky for the most part, but he wasn’t trying to kill him anymore. No more stank eye for Steve either.

In fact, it almost seemed like he and Steve were getting along too well. Later that night when it was just the two of them and Nat had gone to bed, he wanted to ask him about something that had been weighing on his mind as of late. There was no one on Earth or in space that knew Steve better than him, which was why…

“Hey.”

Steve did that thing where he turned but when he looked up to meet Bucky’s eyes his eyebrows went up too. “Yeah, Buck?”

“You seem pretty excited to be going to Georgia tomorrow. Anything new going on? Tony making you something?”

“Nah. Tony hasn’t made me a new suit in years. Why, you know something I don’t?”

“Usually. You just seem happy to be seeing him.” Bucky put a little extra weight on the words, wondering if it would egg Steve on to spill any sort of beans.

“I am. Always am. Now, with Peter finishing up his degrees the kid’s never home. Pretty sure Tony needs me.”

“Yeah, I get it. There something you’re not telling me Stevie?”

Steve’s eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head. “No. Why?” Then a second later. “What?”

“You know, it’s okay to like people. He’s an asshole, but he’s good for you,” Bucky said, a sly smirk forming on his lips. He had his arms crossed, the one from Wakanda still shining proudly against his body.

Steve shook his head, “Bucky, it’s not like that. We haven’t, I mean, there’s nothing between us.”

“You sure?”

“There’s not.”

“I know you better than anyone else left on this planet, you can’t lie to me.”

Steve stared at him long and hard for a moment, his expression flickering between a few emotions. Bucky knew Steve didn’t need his approval, but he also knew the other man really liked to know what he thought. And Steve always needed a push when it came to matters of the heart. He was always sort of adorably hopeless.

“If Stark felt anything toward me he would have told me or shown me by now. If you haven’t noticed, he’s just like his dad…as much as he hates it.”

“You’d know, wouldn’t you?”

Steve physically leaned back and his lips parted. “Bucky,” he warned.

Bucky held up his hands, “Sorry. I’m just saying, you’ll never know until you try. For Christ’s sake, I’ve got a life now. What kind of sick irony is that?”

“The proper kind. That’s what I fought for, what you fought for. The point was for you to always have a family in the end.”

“Yeah, and you deserve one too. The ship’s already sunk, Captain, the only thing dragging you down is yourself.”

Steve rose a brow, turning his head away. “Did you come up with that yourself?”

“Yeah, actually.”

“Well, thank you for the advice. I have a life, a good one.”

“It could be better.”

Steve huffed. “Everything could be.”

“For fuck’s sake. At least talk to people who aren’t crying at a support group. Make some new friends, you’re miserable.”

Steve held up his hands, “Okay, okay, if it’ll make you leave me alone.”

Bucky nodded, pleased with himself. “Just try. That’s all I want.” Bucky gave Cap his most shit-eating smirk and then nodded. “Okay. Want to help me eat the rest of these?”

“Those are horrible for you.”

“And?”

The two shared a look, and then Cap huffed and started eating some of the crispy little barbeque potato chips Bucky was so fond of.

“I think that’s the most you’ve talked to me in months.” Steve was beaming at him.

“Yeah, probably.”

The ironic part was now he didn’t have anything left to say to anyone that wasn’t TV show or Natasha related. He didn’t like to talk about anything else. He became a happier person once he stopped talking about the war and the past. The future was a pretty fun place once he let himself enjoy it. Now, he just had to convince Steve to do the same.

\---

“If he, ever hurts you—” Quill nodded is head in tune with the beat. “True love won’t desert you…You know, I still love you!” Star-Lord drew his hands into fists and started more forcefully nodding his head. “Now we touched and went our separate ways. Dun dun dun dun…dun..” High at the top of his voice he began singing the medley of the guitar. The guy was clearly off in his own world fist-pumping and playing the music so loudly Nebula could barely hear herself think.

She watched him, scratching a non-cyborg part on her arm. This was her life now. And it could have been worse. Not much worse, however.

“Sing with me, Nebula! C’mon! Someday, love will find you! Break those, chains that bind you—” Quill held his arms out to her, drawing his elbows in and doing the most ridiculous manly shimmy the blue woman had ever seen. He grabbed her by her wrist anyway and pulled her from her favorite chair. “One night! Will remind you—” Quill was headbanging and pulling her elbows in time with the beat. She frowned but moved with him, enjoying his energy far more than she would have ever admitted. He was obnoxious, but she loved him anyway…perhaps in the way a cat loved a dog it was forced to live with.

“God! I fuckin’ love the 80s stuff on this thing. Yes,” he shrugged his shoulders in time with the beat, pressing his lips into a fine line and looking genuinely kind of silly. “How can you not like this Nebula? It’s a masterpiece.” He shimmied his way backward in his socks, nodding his head melodically as he ripped open a candy package. He chewed on one of the long pink straws, offering one to Nebula.

She took it and ate it in a much more dignified fashion, nodding her head too. She did love this song, even after the 100th time. Just as the pair really got jamming, she noticed their message signal was beeping. Quill was off in his own world, mouth full of Gears Shift brand gummy straws, dancing in his socks and undershirt. It was how he dealt with things. He’d even packed on quite a few pounds from sadness-eating. God, he was pathetic but she still managed to like him.

The message was from Nat. As she got typing away, a loud thud was heard near the loading bay, where the beds were. “Damn it, ugh…” a deep voice groaned. Oh, hell he was awake. That’s just what she needed.

Quill turned, smirking and scratched his (out of control) facial hair. “Thor? You awake, bud?”

She watched the (now pretty chubby) Star-Lord go down the steps of the ship. She heard them talking, and soon the two men came in. Thor sat down heavily at the table and sunk down low in his chair, grabbing one of those really horrible blue beers she couldn’t stand. He raised the bottle to her in greeting, smiling with his mouth shut and boinking his eyebrows once. “M’lady.”

“Shut up,” she hissed somewhat affectionately.

Thor laughed sloppily as he downed the beer. The man had some sort of pseudo dreads going on and ate more than Quill. She wasn’t quite for sure how she’d gotten roped into the world’s most testosterone-filled pity party. Both of them had gotten kind of fat, but at least Quill let her cut his hair. They were a mess, it was pretty sad. All of Thor’s friends had died too, and on an Earth-check-up mission, the Asgardians had basically given the guy to them, begging them to help him somehow.

Well, they weren’t doing much “helping” other than helping him store fat. Thor sometimes helped them on their new galactic missions, quests, and looting opportunities, but mostly he was just a really heavy freeloader. He wasn’t a bad guy though, and she still couldn’t bring herself to hate him.

“Who ya messaging, Nebula?” Quill sat down in a chair, tossing the candy to Thor who ripped into the package and just ate a roll of the gummy straws like a sausage.

“Just Nat. She’s letting me know the status of a few things on Earth. She says New Asgard is doing fine.”

Thor nodded, looking thankful somewhere through his glazed expression.

“She says Tony Stark is wanting more of that metal from Orensha again. Sounds good. Let’s do it.”

“Hey! That’s the captain’s call.” Quill held up a hand, putting the other on his hip like he actually held some semblance of authority in his socks and sleeping shirt.

“That’s the Captain’s job? Oh, then I say we go. Aye Quill?” Thor leaned back looking over his shoulder at Star-Lord in a mock-serious fashion.

Quill squinted at him. “Excuse me? Yeah, it’s the Captains job. And I’m the Captain. So _I’ll_ say when we accept the mission.”

Nebula sighed, taking a deep breath and somehow finding the strength to keep going.

\---

“Mr. Stark, Mr. Rogers is here.”

“Send him down,” Tony said, legs trapped in armor. On his upper body he sported a beat up grey shirt with an old album cover design from Van Halen. He was running some tests on this new nanotech and was (not so) patiently awaiting a new delivery of krykor so he could start working on a suit for Peter. Kyrkor was probably the coolest element he’d ever gotten his hands on. And now that he had full access to vibranium from Cap’s friends in Wakanda? Oh, yeah, he was back in business baby. No space-level threat was going to hurt him or his kid. He’d never be exposed on an alien planet again. Not with this tech. He vaguely felt like the suit he was making was actually overpowered since it was mostly made of cosmic metals and elements.

“Turn down the music Friday. Half volume, something less trashy.” Tony watched as Cap opened the doors and offered him a small wave.

“Hey Tony. You look busy.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s great. You should try it sometime. Since when did you become Captain slacker?”

Steve waved a hand, pulling up a stool and sitting on it. “Probably around the same time you became Iron Dad?” Ha ha. He’d give him that.

“Fair enough. So, what’s up?”

“Nothing. Just glad to be here. It didn’t stop snowing the whole drive down. You should see how high the snow is outside, it’s more snow than I’ve seen in ages. Thought I might have to stay in a hotel, pushed on anyway. What’s up with you? This looks interesting.”

Steve was dressed in jeans, winter boots, a dark navy sweater, and a brown bomber jacket. Jesus he was always looked so good, like the clothes he wore were made for his body specifically. It didn’t help that he had pink-chilled cheeks. His hair was styled like it used to be in 2012, and he looked as youthful as ever. He looked just plain cute. He was surprised he didn’t turn up in plaid again like a freaking baby boomer.

“It’s my new suit. You like it? It’s made of about seventeen different things not found on Earth. It’s the same armor I’ve been working on for over four years. It’s actually almost complete.”

“What color are you going to make it?”

“Depends. This one can change color. I think I’ll have it in my classic Mark 3 colors since that one was my favorite. This one is something else though Steve.”

Cap leaned forward, looking interested. Tony liked it when he’d just sit down here and let him talk nonsensical science at him. They’d spent many nights that way. “It’s a spacesuit. And a spacecraft. And an emergency shelter if need be. It’s also got a way to recycle piss, shit, spit, sweat, whatever. It’s my god damned magnum opus.”

Steve smiled at him in that genuine way where he just looked so proud of him it made him feel like he needed to hide. “That’s amazing Tony.” And the bastard was so genuine, he knew he meant it with all of his heart.

“It will be. So, lunch? I’m thinking chili since it’s chilly outside,” Tony stepped off of the pedestal he’d been standing on as the suit faded back into an arc reactor hooked up to a few different wires and detectors.

“You know I love chili.”

“Yeah I do. It’s because I want to butter you up.”

“Why?”

“I’ll tell you when it works.”

Steve watched him and just chuckled at his back as they pair went upstairs and enjoyed some music. They scrolled through missions, reports, new movies, new music, and Peter’s Official Spider-Man™ tweets while Tony cooked. He didn’t like cooking before the Snap, but now he found it kind of cathartic. Pepper always called him a huge man-baby for only learning how to mix drinks and make sandwiches.

He liked feeling Caps’ eyes on him as he cooked. Recently, he could have sworn the air was thicker between them whenever they were in the same room. It didn’t help that he was now not-so-discreetly flirting with Cap on a regular basis. He even did so in public. It really did seem like Cap was flirting with him too, but he was pretty sure that Cap couldn’t tell the difference either way. Or maybe he could if Rochester was anything to go by. God damn, he wished he could forget that whole night.

“There you go soldier, eat up. I’ll make us some snow icecream later. Oh, that reminds me, I’ve got something for you, a really cool sled.”

Cap took his bowl looking thankful, but then he quirked a brow. “A sled?”

“Of sorts. It’s a multipurpose tool,” Tony put his own bowl of chili on the table and then disappeared, coming back with a little something he’d made for him. Honestly, Tony had meant to give the thing to Steve a while back, but he’d kept improving it. It was a new Captain America shield, it looked just like the one Cap had dropped and abandoned. Tony was an idiot and Cap deserved the shield, that’s just how it was. This one was made out of pure vibranium—with Okoye’s blessing—and some krykor from a far-off region of space. Upon stress tests, he’d found it was an even stronger sonoluminescent material, i.e. it converted extreme vibrations into light. It was more lightweight too, so now maybe it could be thrown even farther. Fuck, he loved himself. “Whaddya think? Thought it was about time you had it.”

“Tony…” Cap stood in disbelief, coming over and taking the shield on his arm like he had a million times before. He tested its weight, and then broke out in a huge smile, his eyes so sincere it made Tony feel a way.

“I want you to have it. But I’m not making anymore for anybody else, so don’t go showing that thing off.” Tony sat at the table and broke crackers over his chilibowl, face growing warm from something very different than the spices. Cap was just standing there, looking down at the shield and testing it. It just looked so right in his arms, and he felt arousal and pride swell in his chest as he watched. Then, he sat and placed it on the table near him. Steve was smiling to himself as he ate his chili. Cute ass.

“Gonna take it with you right? It’s collecting dust here, a real tragedy.”

“Absolutely.”

“Good.”

“Thank you, Tony.”

“What are you thanking me for? It’s yours, I’d like it out of my house.”

“Hey did you tell Bucky about this?” Cap leaned the shield against the legs of his chair.

“No, why?”

“He seemed to think you were making something for me.”

“Well I did go to HQ and ask him to give me your stealth suit. Couldn’t find the damn thing by myself. I’m making some improvements.”

Steve shook his head, “And if I had needed it?”

“You would have conveniently found a prototype I left in its place.” Tony knew the stealth suit and the suit he wore when they helped save Sokovia were the last suits Cap had left that weren’t destroyed to hell.

He met Cap’s eyes, and they ate their chili in silence for a few minutes.

“I’m calling it now, it’s gonna make your ass look great.”

Cap nearly coughed on a cracker in something that was half a laugh and half a choke. Tony grinned, he loved messing with him. “What?”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Yeah, and water’s wet. What’s happening in your life Cap? How’s that uh, counseling thing going at the community center?”

“It’s going good. I think it really helps the guys.”

“That’s good.” Tony looked up at Steve and pointed at him with his spoon. “Guess what? The kid’s graduating this year. In May. I have to tell someone about this though—check it—he and I had an in-depth discussion a few months back about how one day in the future we’re gonna have 7 billion people on the planet again right? Well he convinced me to let him work on a concept for a new branch of Stark Industries. So I gave him some time, and do you know what he did?”

Steve leaned forward, “What?”

“He called a fucking board meeting last Sunday for the company, and he gave this hour-long presentation about what he wanted to call Stark Solutions—a whole new branch based on renewable energy, food shortage science, novel engines, waste management ideas—” Tony held his chin, grinning to himself. “He basically managed to convince my most important board members to begin planning out and budgeting for what he called ‘The Imminent Future.’ God, Steve, you should have seen him. In a suit and freaking high tops.” Tony was so proud of him. Though Stark Industries has worked on renewable energy, most of his company was focused on other forms of high technology. There was never an entire branch dedicated specifically to such a large and noble purpose. “He sold it like a real pro, convincing them it’d be ‘marketable’ and it would be great for our image if we announced it live. I mean, I could create whatever branch I wanted when I wanted, but he managed to convince everyone else first. He was fantastic.”

Captain Rogers had this funny smile on his face that honestly confused Tony but made him feel happy. He wished he could see the inside of that guy’s mind sometimes. “You taught him well.”

“I didn’t teach him shit. Kid’s like a sponge.”

“Hmph, I’m excited you two are trying something new.”

Tony huffed. “Two? Believe it or not, I’m letting the kid handle a lot of the planning. I wanna see what he does. So far, I’ve approved in writing a new facility he thinks we should build solely dedicated to the project. It’s not as flashy as something I’d design, but it’s a start. Did I tell you I made him a co-owner of Stark Industries?”

That seemed to surprise Steve only a little. Tony loved it when Steve was surprised, and then he suddenly realized he’d been gushing about the boy like a soccer mom. “Anyway, good stuff. He’s got limits to what he can do for now. Gonna come to his graduation?”

The other man nodded, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. How’s he handling all this?”

“Better than I thought he would. He told me he wanted to save the neighborhood, as in the neighborhood we call ‘Earth.’ Hey, want some more chili?”

“Yeah, I’ll take some. Let me get it.” Steve stood and began to divvy their portions, looking up when he turned to grab something and seeing a picture of Howard Stark on a shelf near the sink. Tony caught him looking at it and crossed his arms.

“How’d you think I’d look with his mustache?” Tony asked, looking up at Cap.

“Let’s just say I like your mustache the way it is. Even if it’s kind of weird.”

“Different? This shit’s trademarked.”

“Is it really?”

“Grow a beard and shave it like mine and find out, Wonder Boy.”

Steve furrowed his eyebrows and then shook his head, huffing an amused noise as he sat. “I’m good, Tony,” Cap had the ghost of a smile on his face even as he ate his chili. The snow was really coming down outside. The house was nice and toasty, and the fireplace was still going strong. Tony looked up to watch the other man quietly eat his chili, those beautiful blues focused on the bowl of fruit in the middle of the table. Shit if Cap didn’t look gorgeous, even stuffing his face.

“Hey, so you dating anyone yet?”

Cap shut his eyes and sighed. “Not you too. You guys really need to stop worrying about me.”

“C’mon, Steve, don’t be like that. Tell me. It’s been a while.”

“No.”

“Anyone in mind?”

“No, Tony.”

“Have you ever even been on a real date before? Like, I mean, the whole shebang? Dinner, maybe a movie, awkward small talk? Little smooch at the front porch?”

Steve looked up and him while chewing and shook his head, the pink of his tongue coming out to clean his lips. “No, never. I’ve gone out with Bucky a few times when we were younger with some girls, but it wasn’t like what you said. It was more like a double date with a gal who Bucky set me up with. Poor thing escaped the first chance she got. Almost took a girl out for coffee before she turned out to be a secret agent, you remember Sharon. She was nice. I really liked her.”

“Yep. Sad. Say, Cap, why don’t you let me show you what a real date is like? I’m the king of them.”

Steve suddenly looked up at him like he was a bomb that had started ticking. “What?”

“I said, let me show you what a real date is like,” Tony’s heart was about to fall out of his ass which was unfortunate because he was also pulling this whole crazy idea out of his ass. “You’ve never had one, so I can show you how fun it is. Teach you a few things.”

The other man’s eyes were laser focused on him and he stopped chewing. “Tony, you really don’t have to do that. I just haven’t been looking. It’s fine.”

“Nope, no, it really isn’t. You wanna do this thing or what? When the snow stops shitting on us, we can drive to the airport.”

“Tony.”

“Steve.”

Steve’s cheeks seemed vaguely pink as Tony kept talking. “Look, I’m not ready to date either, I get it. But, you will be one day. Why don’t you let me teach you? It’ll be instructive. Besides. I’m bored.” Maybe this was just crazy enough to work.

It was very quiet as Tony tilted his head and made a face, shrugging his shoulders at Cap. The other man was watching him carefully, and then shook his head, a huff coming through his nose. “You’re unbelievable.”

“It’s a tick. Okay, y’know what, since you’re not used to all this and I am, I’ll tone it down for you. Real kosher stuff, no yacht. Mostly. Besides, I’ve always wanted to see you in a fitted suit.”

“I’ve got a suit.”

“It’s a formal date. I want a suit you haven’t worn to ten funerals. You need a modern, tasteful suit anyway. Get with the times, already,” Tony could tell for some reason he was winning this battle. Cap seemed less and less startled. In fact, he looked relaxed. This was good, very good.

_Good job, me. Let’s just go on a pretend date with the best god damn man in the universe who is totally not the hottest creature to ever grace our presence._

Steve looked up at him through his eyelashes, crossing his arms and then leaning back in his chair, “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay then! Fantastic. I’ll call you. Y’know a real date isn’t that different than just going out to dinner, but there is a finesse to it Cap. Something no super-soldier serum can prepare you for. In the meantime, we’re gonna go downstairs and watch that Lord of the Rings movie I’ve been telling you about. It’s great, it’s only about three hours long.” Tony was acting nonchalant but his heart was hammering and his mind was going a million miles an hour. “C’mon, icecream later.”

Steve groaned but he was smirking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> [](http://i.imgur.com/4CKaCA5)  
> The song Quill was singing: ["Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" by Journey.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfJQ6yveYH0)  
> It's one of my favorite songs in the whole world. Give it a listen if you'd like.  
> Also, krykor is a substance I just made up. I think space would definitely have some substances just as cool as vibranium.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this far! 
> 
> I really hope you like it. These are my favorite characters of all-time right here folks. Don't hesitate to let me know how you feel and if I've done them justice.

“Bucky?” Nat said, feet propped up on her desk. She looked a little less miserable than normal and she was sipping a diet soda. Bucky was in a chair in front of her, helping her look over notes and cases. The pair had began to tackle Avengers business together, it felt kind of like he was the Maria Hill in this situation, but he didn’t really mind. He thought that lady was badass, even if he’d never gotten the chance to meet her.

“Yeah, Nat?”

“Think I should get an eye patch?”

Bucky looked up and then snorted. “Oh hell yeah. Go for it.” The two shared a smile and then a comfortable silence resumed between them as they idly tapped on their computers. It was broken only by Friday telling them Steve Rogers had returned to the compound.

Nat stuffed the last remnants of a sandwich in her mouth. She had her two-toned hair pulled up into a messy bun. Bucky loved it when she wore it like that.

“He left this morning looking pretty annoyed. It was pretty funny actually,” Bucky said, scratching the back of his head underneath his own messy half-bun and sauntering on up. He needed a haircut real bad. “Gonna go see what that was about.” He leaned down, kissing the top of her head and petting her temple with a thumb. She looked up at him and their eyes lingered on each other. “I love this,” he squeezed her bun.

She smiled and grabbed his wrist, kissing his normal hand. “Yeah? I’m not sure how to feel about yours.” Pulling him down all the way she kissed his chin, and then his lips. He felt a warmth spread through him as he grabbed her by the cheeks and kissed her roughly. She made a soft noise into his mouth from the force. He pulled away, thumbs caressing the corners of her mouth.

“You’ll grow to like it.”

“Doubtful,” she said up at him, green eyes playful against her pale cheeks. He loved her so much it hurt him physically to pull away from her most of the time. He did it anyway.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, kissing her once more and then jogging to the stairs. He didn’t really like elevators, and he always had a lot of energy to burn. His mind vaguely wondered if Steve always had this much energy as he tried to get the thoughts of Natasha’s gaze out of his brain before he showed up downstairs with an embarrassing accessory.

He found Steve on the residential floor, heading to his room and holding a garment bag. The other man was walking pretty quickly.

“Hey Steve, what’s that?”

The blond turned, “A suit.”

“A suit? For what?”

“Peter’s graduation. And…a date.”

“A date?” Oh, now this was news. “Go on.”

“Tony sent me to a tailor and made me get fitted for this. It was kind of fun.”

“Yeah? And…?” Bucky was in a black shirt that had its sleeves all the way rolled up like some sort of greaser. Ever since Nat made a comment about his biceps, he can’t help but show them off for her. It made him love his own body a little more.

“Well, uh, Tony is taking me on a date.”

No way. Who caved first? “You’re shitting me.”

“No. It was his idea. I made the mistake of telling him I’d never been on a proper date. He decided it was his duty, so I let him.”

“So, you two are dating?”

“He said it was instructional.”

“Tony Stark doesn’t do instructional, we both know that,” Bucky narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Surely Steve wasn’t that naïve.

“I know,” Steve said, looking up at him with the tiniest tingle of something. It left Bucky stunned. Did Steve know what he was doing? He didn’t know whether he was happy for him or concerned.

“Does he know you know?”

Steve opened his door and walked in, laying the garment bag on the bed and throwing himself into his favorite chair. “I have no idea.” The rooms were more like mini-apartments for each Avenger. It was always harrowing that they were so quiet these days.

Bucky tilted his head a bit, coming in and leaning against his best friend’s dresser. “Do you want him to?”

Running a hand through his hair and turning to look at nothing in particular, Steve set his mouth in a sort of line and turned to meet Bucky’s gaze. “I want something real.” Steve’s face crumpled subtly into a barely-there miserable expression.

“Hey, I know,” Bucky said, tone friendly. “What’s wrong?”

“Everyone has always told me to move on. Go on a date. And I want to. I really do,” Cap’s eyebrows were knit and he had a hand squeezing the hell out of one of his knees. Bucky could tell he was overwhelmed by something.

Bucky came over and squeezed Steve’s shoulder. Something was definitely bothering Steve very deeply. Bucky wondered if it was fear of rejection like what Bucky had put Steve through. Or if it was because of Howard. He knew Steve and Howard had had a short sort of thing and it ended somewhat badly because Howard was a playboy. Still, the man treated him well after and before whatever it was that they had—something he still never fully told Bucky about—and then he’d fallen hard for Peggy Carter, like real love. There was that something with Sharon. And he knew Steve had flirted around or messed around with other people, but the man didn’t ever talk about his love life.

As far as Bucky knew, poor Steve’s love affairs had always been short, brief and catastrophic. He wondered if Steve even knew what he really wanted or needed. Sharon was dusted, Peggy had passed, and Howard was long married and gone. He hoped Steve could find something real and good, too. He deserved it. It was only matters of the heart that Steve was ever uncertain about, it wasn’t like a battle. A tactical mind couldn’t really help a damaged heart that still belonged to a 95 pound rascal in a super-soldier’s body.

“I hope you have a good time, pal. No matter what Tony’s branding it as. Don’t have to love him to date him. Even if it’s make-believe.”

Steve looked up at him, “I know. Thank you,” Steve stood and patted Bucky’s shoulder as he passed, hanging up the garment bag in his closet.

“When’s this happening?”

“In three days. He’s picking me up from here.” Cap made a noise to himself and then sat down, shaking his head.

Bucky smirked, he honestly didn’t bare any ill-will against Iron Man. That whole situation in the past was bad and they’d all made bad choices. After they’d lost against Thanos, he’d explained himself to the other man via a voice message (which he was pretty sure the other man had watched since they were on somewhat okay terms) because they were all that were left and he wanted to make an effort to try and be a normal person, for Steve and everyone. He wanted a taste of a normal life, and he started by apologizing in a rational way to a man he’d hurt in a way no other human should hurt another. He wanted to make it clear that he wasn’t the Winter Soldier. He was James Barnes, friend of Steve Roger and Howard Stark. Now that so much had happened, he actually found himself liking Tony. He was a strong willed, stubborn and petty man that reminded him so much of Howard, he was hard to really hate. He sincerely hoped Steve and Tony had a good time, however brief or casual.

“Need anything?”

“No, Buck thank you. The suit’s nice. Maybe you should get a suit.”

Bucky smirked, “Yeah? Where would I wear it?”

“To Peter’s graduation. He thinks you’re neat.”

“Maybe I will. Not every day an Avenger graduates,” Bucky said, nodding and then slapping Cap on the leg.

Steve looked up at him and then smirked, slapping Bucky on the leg back. “How are you and Nat?”

“Fantastic.”

“I’m glad for you.”

A few days later Bucky and Nat stood together watching Steve get into one of Tony’s nicest two-seater cars. Tony had flown in but always had some sort of fancy car waiting at the airport. Steve was in a nice dark navy suit that had a matching dark navy shirt, with no tie. It was a casual sort of formal that Nat told Bucky really suited him. As the car sped off, Nat turned to Bucky and said, “Y’know, it’s kind of weird.”

“Yeah, a little bit.”

\---

Tony grinned as he took a turn so sharp it made Steve grab onto the oh-shit bar out of habit. He chuckled once evilly, glancing over his shoulder at the somewhat tense look on Cap’s face.

“Having fun?” He gunned it down the interstate. It was about 80 miles from the Avengers HQ base to Manhattan, but when one drove as fast as Tony…80 miles seemed more like 30.

“I’m just not certain this is typical date driving,” Cap said, noticing that the speedometer was over a hundred.

Friday warned Tony a cop was parked behind a billboard and Tony slowed down just enough to avoid him and continue on. Cap shook his head but looked amused.

“So, first thing’s first. Dinner. Then a show. There is a Cirque du Soleil show in town, and those are literally the only kind of shows I like. It’ll be great. Even if the ones in Vegas are better.”

“A Sun Circus?”

“You speak French?”

“I picked up some during the war. Kind of had to.”

“Huh! Learn something new every day. I know lots of phrases in a lot of languages. Most of them would probably hurt your 1940s sensibilities.”

“Tony,” Cap smirked.

Eventually, Tony screeched his the car all the way into the inner city. He slowed down and then took a turn down a street that led to a rather inconspicuous-looking parking garage at the base of a huge hotel. It was a gorgeous building, and this parking area was reserved for celebrities and rich people like him. He used to come here a lot. Still did alone sometimes.

Cap reached for his door but Tony quickly said, “Ah! Hey, I have to open that for you.”

Cap blinked. “I’m not lady.”

“Yeah, I know that. It’s courteous.”

“I’m getting out now.”

“Literally—you’re already horrible at following instructions.”

Tony led Steve into the back of the building, and the inside had a gorgeous lobby that looked more like a modern palace or castle than a hotel. There was a beautifully chic restaurant face near the entrance of the hotel. It was one of the most expensive and best restaurants this side of New York, placed inside a hotel only the rich powerful could afford comfortably. It was pretentious, but Tony wanted to impress. He hoped Steve had the capacity to enjoy fancy meals.

“Okay, so first lesson. Take your date to a nice place to eat. It doesn’t have to be this expensive, but we both know who I am.” Tony walked into the place which was lavishly decorated with blacks, greys, and other suave colors. There was a classically European vibe to the décor, and a live band was playing something with lots of violin. The hostess was wearing an adorable black outfit and got them seated after Tony confirmed the reservation. They got placed in a comfy booth that felt very private. An unscented candle and fresh flowers decorated the middle of the table.

The hostess gave them menus, took their drink orders, and left them in peace. She didn’t seem very phased to see Captain America and Iron Man.

Tony pointed at the menu. “Get whatever you want. I think you’ll really like the bourguignon. And I’m ordering us a bottle of wine, do you like white or red?”

Steve just looked at him. Tony thought it was cute, he looked either overwhelmed or excited…he also looked damn serious at the same time. It was hard to tell with this guy.

“White.”

“Hmm, maybe don’t get the bourguignon then. Red wine goes better with beef, usually. Okay! Second lesson don’t talk about exes, breakups or religion. No politics either. So, how was your day Steve?” Tony leaned back, already comfortable in one of his favorite places. He already knew what food he wanted. Steve was staring at the menu like it was a book to study. The menu had no prices on it.

“Well, it wasn’t too bad. Until some guy picked me up and demonstrated his severe disregard for traffic laws and passenger safety,” Steve was smiling.

“He must be a pretty cool fuckin’ guy. I want to be like him. Sounds dangerous,” Tony chuckled telling the waitress his order and getting them a nice bottle of white wine. He had a feeling Steve liked it sweet. Steve chose a chicken-based dish. Tony ordered appetizers and a second course for them after ordering a pasta. This was so strange. Having a fancy dinner with Steve Rogers. What would the kid think? His pulse was wild right now.

“Well my day was great. Woke up about four hours ago, fixed my hair, took a shower, the works.” Hmm, this wasn’t working. He needed to turn up the charm, get Steve comfortable. “Lesson three, make the questions personal. You really want to know the person. Ask questions you actually care about the answer to, y’know if you want more than a one-night stand.”

Steve shot him a look, which died into a pleasant one when a server poured them their expensive wine. He reached out and took a sip. “This is a really nice wine, Tony.” Tony watched Steve’s eyes look around the room, surveying it all. Tony was so caught up with the way that Steve’s suit fit him like a freaking glove, he barely registered when he was speaking. “Okay, what do you do for a living?

“Me? Oh you know, I make things.”

“Wow, what kind of things?” Steve had this funny little smirk that Tony thought looked almost flirty-sarcastic.

“Just world-changing tech, robots, super-computers. Satellites. Augmented reality. Nothing special. What about you? What do you do for a living?”

Steve sipped his wine, looking thoughtful. “I try to help people.”

“Like a cop?”

Steve nodded chuckling, “Something like that. Do you have any kids?”

“Just one. He’s a little turd. But I’m proud of him.” Tony drank his wine as their appetizer arrived. It was a neat sort of light pastry with crab, avocado, and a myriad of tasty fresh herbs. “You are so good at this, Steve! What about you, any kids?”

“No. But I really want some one day.”

Tony looked up at Cap who was now eating one of the appetizers. He hadn’t known the other man wanted kids. “How many?”

Steve met his eyes as he chewed. He swallowed before replying, “Doesn’t really matter. Maybe one or two. I’d like a boy and a girl.”

“That’s pretty traditional. I think one’s a huge handful. This is good,” Tony mumbled through bites. Tony was actually pretty elated that Cap was telling the truth. Of course, he was, he was Captain America, he shouldn’t be surprised, but still. This was starting to feel more real than he thought it would.

“What do you like to do when you’re not making things?” Cap looked up at him.

“Eh, I’m pretty fond of watching old movies and making fun of them with my kid. I like to play videogames. I also have this super weird addiction to audiobooks.”

“Oh yeah? What kind of books do you like to listen to?”

“Crime novels. They’re fun. I like to guess the ending. What about you? What are your hobbies?”

“I like to draw. I’ve gotten into painting now, too. I actually painted a huge one for a friend recently. I didn’t realize my hands were still so steady.”

Tony knew Steve liked to design things and sketch—after all he’d helped design every suit Tony made for him—but he didn’t know he was a full-on artsy fartsy guy. Somehow it never came up in their conversations. They were never very sentimental when they spent time with each other. Their talks often diverged into the semi-personal side, like movies they liked, people, or stories of better times. Tony felt like a piece of shit for not knowing things like this. Well! That was what the date was for!

“What kind of things do you paint, Steve?” Tony did want to know.

“Scenery. Sometimes people I know. I paint Nat and the lake a lot. I’ve painted one of your suits before,” Steve said looking almost shy.

“My suit? Which one? Can I see it?” Tony laughed as he ate the last appetizer on the platter. Before he knew it, they were having a good time. Their conversation turned more personal, and before long Tony had learned Steve grew up poor, won an award for art when he was younger, his dad died when he was young, and he helped his mom during The Great Depression by painting signs and window advertisements. He told Steve all about his rebellious younger days, about the real Jarvis, his time in college, and about his first robots. It didn’t take long for them to finish all the courses and dessert. It was after he made Steve laugh particularly hard that he realized they were done with their meal.

“Okay, are you ready to go see a show Mr. Rogers?” Tony was blotting his mustache with a napkin.

Steve nodded, “Okay.” Then the pair took a short drive to a concert hall. Tony could tell by the look on Steve’s face the entire time that the man was floored and completely amazed. The music was powerful, the dancers were elegant and beautiful, and the moves were complex and artistic. Tony wondered if this sort of thing was right up Steve’s alley. Every now and then he’d glance over and Steve’s mouth would be open. It made him feel good to know that he was absolutely positive this thing was blowing his mind. If he was a poor kid from Brooklyn who only knew war and the occasional corny showtune and dance, there was a huge chance he’d never gotten to experience something like this. It was moving stuff. Tony was not impressed as usual, even though he thought it was pretty. But the moment intermission happened Steve stood up immediately and clapped loudly and hard. It looked like he was even breathing deeply.

“Did you like it?”

Steve turned to him and his expression was bright and surprised, “Tony, that was amazing. That was one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen.”

“Yeah?”

“It was incredible. Thank you,” he turned to Tony and grasped his shoulder before sitting down and excitedly staring at the stage like he wanted intermission to end right that second. When the show started up again and then finally ended, Steve’s clap was loud and he whistled. Tony watched him clap and grin, feeling a smile on his own face. He felt happy he could show him something so new and interesting. As the two men walked side by side out of the theatre, they talked about their favorite parts.

Finally, when they made it to the car, Tony leaned on the hood and asked, “Ready to head home?”

Steve thought for a second and shook his head. “No.”

Tony did that squint you do when you’re not sure if you’d heard someone right or not, “Really?”

“Let me take you somewhere. Let’s get a cab.”

Tony blinked. “Alright then why not?” They walked down the street, and Cap hailed a cab. Once they were in, Steve told the driver to go to an address Tony wasn’t familiar with. Once they got inside, it seemed to be a sort of lounge that catered to jazzy music and it had a huge dancefloor where some couples and individuals were dancing to a medium-paced song played by a live band. It was a happening and swanky place, Tony actually kind of liked it.

They stood in the entrance for a minute, and then Tony glanced at Steve. The other man had a distant look in his eyes, and then turned to Tony with a somewhat sad expression. “My whole life I’ve wanted to take someone dancing.”

“Aw Steve,” he breathed. He knew the big blond had wanted some sort of dance when is plane went down. “Well, this date is for you. Dancing is an admittedly old-fashioned thing to do, but it is still well-within the realm of date-approved activities. I haven’t danced in ages.” Tony looked out at the much more casually dressed crowd and then at Steve, who looked like he was having a memory of something far away. Even Tony Stark new this was a big deal. The poor guy just wanted a dance, fake date or not. “Alright, well you know what? I know how to dance, let’s do it.”

Steve looked at him, and like a switch turned on inside of him his face broke into a huge smile that lit up his eyes. “I’d love that,” he said, taking Tony’s arm and leading him to the dance floor. He turned to Tony and didn’t move at first. But then he grabbed him by the waist and took his hand, instantly leading him in a classically jazzy-ballroom like fashion. Tony’s life as a rich kid had prepared him for this kind of dancing by leaps and bounds. What his rich kid life hadn’t prepared him for was the feeling of Steve’s hand on his back and the warmth of their joined hands. With the first twist of their dance, Steve literally stole his breath away. He felt embarrassed and aroused. This was all of a sudden very real.

Steve was looking down at him like a big handsome man on Christmas, and his grip was firm but sweet. His feet moved with ease, a few beats ahead of the music sometimes from his enthusiasm. Tony’s heart pounded, and whenever Steve turned them too quickly it made him laugh. He didn’t even care he’d swiftly been put in the woman’s position.

The taller man spun Tony out, and then chuckled when Tony shot him a playful pouty look. Steve was a wonderful dancer, and he was so confident and happy looking it really was infectious. Tony let himself be dipped (not very low) and full-on laughed when Steve popped him back up. Steve picked up the pace, and the two found an easy rhythm with each other. By the time the second or third song ended, Tony was panting and Steve was flushed from something that looked a lot like joy. Honestly some people were staring at them, but Steve didn’t seem to care. Tony certainly didn’t give a rip. They walked over to the bar. Tony got a martini and Steve got a coke. They drank in silence before Tony turned to him and said over the music, “What you wanted?” Tony had loosened a few of his shirt buttons and taken his suit jacket completely off. Steve was still in his full suit and everything.

Steve licked his lips, running a hand through his hair and nodding with vigor, “It’s perfect.” After their drinks, another song came on. This one was a bit slower. Tony was still trying to come to terms with the flip-flops his heart was doing when Steve took his hand and led him back out to the dance floor. He took Tony by the waist and used it to pull him close. This proximity and closeness was making Tony’s heart thud in his ears. He was unable to make eye contact with the other man, and looked down and to the side, focusing on anything other than those perfect blue eyes. There wasn’t much quick movement or spinning. It was just slow and agonizingly romantic.

Tony could smell Steve when he was this close, even in a room filled with so many other people. He smelled strong, manly, and clean. He was warm. He was everything Tony thought he’d be if he ever got to get this close to him. The slow dancing pace was making him feel shy. He chanced a glance at Cap, only to immediately turn his head upon seeing that Cap had been watching him. He swallowed thickly and abruptly forgot what sort of playboy philanthropist sort of thing he was going to say.

“Are you tired?” Steve lightly asked, voice so deep and close to his ear it made him get goosebumps.

“Of course not. I’m fine,” he said, knowing that if he were to turn his head it would be so simple to just kiss Steve. He could kiss him. He was right there, he could feel his breath warming the side of his neck and shoulder.

Still gripping Tony’s waist, Steve took a step back and looked down at him. When Tony finally got up the oomph to look Steve in the eyes, he realized it was a big mistake. The other man was watching him so calmly and sweetly, face more handsome and angular in the dim shadows of the jazzy dancefloor. “Tony?”

“Yeah,” he breathed, swallowing thickly and absentmindedly playing with a part of Steve’s shirt.

“This has been one of the best nights of my life. Thank you, I mean it,” Cap smiled at him in this way that made him wonder if Cap was happy or sad. It was a melancholy smile that made Tony flush from the sheer sincerity.

“It’s my pleasure. I’ve got a thousand more lessons I could teach you, but you know, you’re a natural Cap.” Tony looked up at him and brought his hands back to himself. “The teacher has become the taught,” Tony laughed breathlessly, stepping away and anxiously going to retrieve his jacket.

On the way home, Tony let Steve choose the radio station. Of course, he chose an oldies channel. Luckily, oldies these days consisted more of 70s songs than old showtunes. Steve tended to find the 70s stuff more palatable it seemed. Tony drove slower now that it was late and lightly sleeting. Every now and then he’d glance over, just to find Cap staring out the window all thoughtful-like. Tonight was really not what he was expecting. It seemed like it had turned into a real date, and Tony wasn’t even mad about it. It was nice. Unexpected, but nice.

Tony had always liked Steve. He knew for a fact that if he’d found out Cap was gay earlier than 2016, he might have tried to get in his pants.

Maybe he’d still try to get in his pants. He wasn’t stupid, it really seemed like Cap was flirting with him. There was a few times that night where Tony wondered if Steve had been about to kiss him. Hmph. Finally, around midnight, Tony finally pulled into the Avengers HQ parking area. He got out, stretching and trying to wake up a little. He was exhausted.

“Shit, I’m getting old,” he yawned coming over and walking beside Steve.

“You’re coming in?”

“Yeah, I’m tired. Don’t care to drive right now. Besides, there’s one last very important part of a date I haven’t gotten to teach you about.”

The automatic doors recognized them and opened. It was late enough that no one would be alerted that they were here if people were sleeping.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, last lesson. It’s the most important step of the whole date actually.”

“Really, now.”

“Oh yeah.”

They got in an elevator and went to one of the residential floors. The residential floors had huge common areas and kitchens, and then there were hallways that led to each Avenger’s personal tiny apartment. Tony had his own room in the basement lab where he worked on projects since his money paid for everything.

“So, after you’re done, you walk your date to their car, porch, door, stoop whatever. That’s when you can definitely tell how it all went. It’s all in the goodbye, Cap.” Tony leaned against the wall, smirking up Steve.

“I see. Well Tony, I had a great time.”

“Me too.”

“You learn anything?”

“Definitely.”

Cap laughed quietly in the soft lighting of the floor. They were both standing near his office door. His bedroom was quite a ways down the hall. “You know, dates haven’t changed that much at all since the 1940s.”

“Huh, who’d have guessed?”

Cap laughed and then took a step forward. “This is the best date I’ve ever had.”

“Told you I was the king of dates,” Tony grinned devilishly, however his body language was showing the opposite. Steve was intimidating in this arousing way that had him feeling embarrassed again.

Steve watched him for a moment and then put his hands on Tony’s hips. Tony was so stunned he just barely caught Cap’s eyes flicking to his face, watching for his reaction. This wasn’t a dance floor, what the hell was he doing. “Steve?” he breathed with wide eyes, all at once surprised by how quickly the big blond leaned in and kissed him.

And he was kissing him. Steve was kissing him, and he was kissing him back. Overwhelmed and suddenly breathless, Tony immediately grabbed Steve by the biceps and leaned up to kiss him harder and with a better angle. He wanted this so bad, was this happening? Oh, God, oh fuck, his mind completely left him as his lower jaw gently moved to slot his own lips against Cap’s lips in ways that had his stomach feeling like he’d gone down a rollercoaster. He was too god damn old for this many butterflies.

He suddenly couldn’t breathe and took a big breath through his nose, pulling his head back and looking up at Steve with astonished brown eyes. His breath had now picked up and he was just panting into the space between them, watching Steve watch him. He felt hot all over and everywhere he felt Steve’s fingers, there was a sort of jolt that went straight to his groin.

“So, we’re doing this now--mph—” his words were quickly cut off by lips on his. There was no hesitation, just a warm, strong kiss and Cap’s arms tightening around his waist. The man pulled him closer until they where stomach to stomach, tilting his head and blowing Tony’s mind. How in the fuck was he such a good kisser? Tony kissed back, shock and arousal pounding through his body, “Oh fuck,” he breathed, completely breathless against Caps lips. It was so good, and god how he wanted it to continue. Cap pulled away, a soft wet noise sounding when he brought their mouths apart.

Tony hadn’t even realized he’d had his eyes shut. He opened his eyes and looked up at the other man, not sure if he wanted Steve to slam him into a wall or if he wanted to run away, his thought processing power was pretty much gone. All he could do was stare at Steve’s lips and feel those powerful, large biceps under his own palms. He licked his lips and then gulped in some of that charged air between them.

There was something about the strong, resolute and deeply careful way that Steve was watching him that made his heart flop again. “So…second date?”

Steve let go of his hips, Tony could see Cap swallow as he did so, “Yeah. I’d like that.”

“Sounds great,” he said, wanting those lips back on his so bad he felt like dying. He felt like he was suffocating too. This changed everything. Had Steve always liked him? Did it matter?

“So this is the part where I leave, and we tell our friends through text how dreamy the other was,” Tony said, suddenly realizing that Cap had moved him so far back he was only inches from being against the wall, caged by the other’s bigger body.

Even as Tony took a step back to eventually turn and walk away, he got the distinct impression that Steve didn’t want him to leave. Normally he’d be all over his partner, he was 100% the bang-on-first-date kind of guy but this…it was Steve. Steve was so different, he didn’t think it was right some how.

“I’ll see you in the morning?” Steve asked, voice more gravely than usual.

Tony was going to skip town before everyone woke up, but you bet your ass he was going to stay now. “Oh yeah. I’ll order breakfast for everyone. Ever had yakitori first thing in the morning? It’s fantastic.”

“Goodnight Tony,” Cap breathed, offering him a smile.

“Goodnight, Steve,” Tony said, turning and walking faster than he’d meant too. Once he got into the elevator he pushed the “B” button just about a hundred times.

What the actual fuck. Oh god. He was dating Steve Rogers. He’d kissed him. Jesus, the world really had ended, the 100 year-old virgin made the first move. They’d practically made out there for a second, he didn’t know how to handle this like an adult.

The doors dinged and it made him jump. Shit, he needed to escape. How in the hell would he ever sleep with the feeling of Cap’s strong hands on his waist? The feeling of his hot, perfect lips against his, and Jesus fuck the smell and feel of him. He had been exhausted when he got into the building and now he felt like he needed to run four miles. Maybe he would…He stepped back into the elevator and went to go work off the sudden adrenaline rush, hoping he could work through all these feelings.

\---

Bucky made his way up to the kitchen in the Avenger’s penthouse on the top floor. It was the floor above the conference and residential rooms. It was his favorite floor because there had been many good memories here. He, Cap, and Nat would all watch movies together. He was sure it was even more of a sacred place to Steve, who he’d often find just sitting on the couch alone with only his phone on. It was also the floor with the espresso machine and today he was in the mood for a fancy coffee.

Licking his lips in absolute anticipation for that sweet, creamy, coffee he walked toward the thing like he was on a mission to murder it (force of habit). He grabbed the handle and began tamping espresso in the little cup when he finally registered the strong smell of something delicious. On the counter were a few huge closed trays of something and when he took a peak, it seemed to be filled with meat on skewers, dumplings, and other things. Who ordered breakfast?

Without even asking he grabbed three skewers of chicken and ate them while making himself an espresso. It was only when Nat sauntered on in wearing one of his shirts and those yoga pants he liked to see her in that he realized maybe they weren’t for him.

He turned to her with a little cup of espresso in one hand, and mouthful of chicken. He mumbled, “Were these for something special,” while continuing to eat them.

She looked at the counter and then shrugged, “I don’t know who brought those. Friday, where’d these come from?”

“Mr. Stark had them ordered from Oishi, a Japanese restaurant about twenty miles from here. Mr. Hogan delivered them.”

“Is Tony here?”

“Yes, ma’am. Tony is in the basement. He’s been in since last night.”

Nat muttered, “Interesting,” as she walked over and began to eat a few of them. She and Bucky destroyed seven of them each by the time Cap made his way up.

“Heard there was breakfast,” he said, quickly going and eating some. Bucky and Steve both had absolutely massive appetites due to the serum. They could eat forever. It didn’t take long for them to absolutely decimate the skewers of chicken, the noodles, dumplings, and cups of soup. It was the best breakfast any of them had had in a while. They struggled to take care of themselves, especially when they were busy.

At some point, Tony came up. He had an energy drink in one hand, and a phone in the other. He came up to find all of them eating and laughing while some show played on the massive curved TV up here.

“Hey kids,” he greeted, sipping his drink and offering them all a friendly expression (well mostly Nat and Cap). It was the first time he’d seen Nat since Christmas.

“Hi, stranger,” she said, coming over and hugging him. He was a little surprised by the hug but he’d missed her so he’d allow it. What Tony didn’t see was the sudden look Bucky gave Cap.

Steve’s eyes held no secrets, and thus Bucky rose any eyebrow, meticulously watching how Cap greeted Tony.

“Good morning, Tony,” Steve greeted warmly.

“Mornin’ Cap,” Tony said, walking past him and eating some yakitori too. He wished everyone wasn’t here. He wanted to talk to him alone. But he sure did look cute this morning, what with his mussed blond hair and soft cotton blue shirt.

Tony grabbed a massive bowl of snacks, escaping to the elevator. “Can’t chat, got a super important Skype call. See you guys for lunch, come hungry,” he said not telling them that the call was actually to Peter.

The moment he was gone both Nat and Bucky turned to look at Cap in a way that was so comical it actually made Steve laugh, “Guys?”

“How was your date?” Bucky asked, sitting in a nearby chair and slurping his third or fourth espresso. Nat had a cup of tea in her hands and was leaning both elbows on the counter, watching Cap intently.

Steve gestured with a hand, “It was really nice.”

Bucky huffed, “What happened?”

“It was just a date, Buck. It went really well. We ate dinner, saw a show…danced,” Steve’s eyes took on this almost dopey-cute look at the memory. Oh no. Bucky had seen that before.

“So it was a real one?” said Nat, looking happy for him. “You two are a thing now?”

“You danced?” said Bucky, incredulous.

Steve looked at them both and nodded. “Yeah. We are. We’re trying it out. There’ll be a second date soon.” For a man over six feet tall he sure seemed smaller when his expression was that cute. Bucky grinned.

“Who caved first?”

“Good question,” Cap said, dodging Bucky’s curiosity and drinking some juice.

“I am beyond glad for you Steve, I think it’s sweet. Even if it’s weird,” Nat came and patted his arm. He smiled at her until she left to go work on actual Avengers business.

Bucky stayed and then smirked, “I knew you liked him.”

“Believe it or not this wasn’t really intentional. I didn’t know what to expect until I suddenly realized what I wanted.”

“Which was…”

“None of your business, pal,” Steve smirked, shoving his friend. Bucky shoved him back until soon they were wrestling like boys, in their socks, in the kitchen.

For lunch Tony had ordered them all Italian food. By dinner, they had burgers. Happy stopped in to greet them each time he carted in their next meal. They didn’t see much of Tony, but that was alright. Bucky was pretty sure he was avoiding them.

In reality, Tony _was_ avoiding them, but only because he was finally taking some phone calls he’d been putting off. He was in the middle of a serious discussion with a company that was helping him make more drones when he saw Cap come out of the elevator with a burger and a glass of iced tea.

Cap sat in a chair nearby and set the food near him. Tony ate as he talked, eventually ending the call and stuffing his face. He hadn’t eaten in hours.

“Hey, Capsicle. What’s new?”

“Oh you know, the usual,” Steve was smirking at him. “How about a walk around the park for our second date?”

“Oh my god you are such a fossil. Sounds perfect. A week from now?”

Steve nodded, “I can do that.”

“I’ve got to leave soon, I’d really love to stay, but duty calls,” Tony said, licking his fingers and trying hard to pretend Cap’s gaze didn’t have a physical weight to it.

“I get it,” Steve said.

The air between them was so funky now, but not in a bad way. Tony now realized it was because he was under the flirty stare of a big, huge, sexy man who also happened to be one of the most fundamentally good people on Earth. “I’m leaving right now actually.”

Steve nodded, “Okay. Let me walk you out.”

And so he did. They walked together, all the way out to Tony’s beautiful car. When Tony finally got to the driver’s side, he opened the door and then turned to look at Cap. “Alright, bye Cap—” he got shushed by a kiss to the cheek. Steve was leaning on the car and watching him with a look that just about made him melt into his shoes.

“Bye, Tony. See you.”

“Bye,” Tony said quickly, about to yeet his whole body into the car but then he stopped. His heart lurched and he desperately wanted something more than words from Cap. He turned to Steve and then leaned up, kissing him chastely on the lips, “Catch you later.”

The adorable look of delight on Cap’s face was absolutely worth the burn in his own cheeks.

\---

_Georgia_

“Mr. Stark, incoming message from Nebula. She says they’re coming in for a landing.”

Stark, in the middle of doing his weekly yoga sighed, “Just what I needed while I was trying to chill. Alright,” he stood up, succumbing to his fate and making his way outside to the Guardians.

The ship came in slowly, and Quill was keeping it well and clear of any trees. It was loud and the engines rustled the leaves and grass in visible waves. Tony squinted against the wind, leaning on a doorframe and scratching his facial hair. When the ship landed, Quill came walking out holding a big box in a strong grip. He may have put on a shit ton of weight, but like Thor he still had pretty nice arms.

“Hey, man,” Quill said, setting the box down on the porch. It was a bright sunny day at the cabin. Tony sometimes wondered if the spaceman missed Earth, even if the star guy had told him that being on Earth made him uncomfortable. By the slightly-hung over irritated look Quill was giving the sun, he guessed probably not even a little at the moment.

“Hello Tony,” Nebula greeted, holding two boxes stacked on top of each other. She put them down next to Quill’s. Thor was following her, wearing sunglasses and sandals.

Thor immediately grabbed Tony and gave him a massive smelly hug. Space was not treating him well. “Tony! My friend! How goes the ah, thing?” Great, now he needed a shower.

“Great. All the things are great. Come on in.” Tony led all of the Guardians into his kitchen, and soon each of them had a glass of something cold to drink and a sandwich. They all talked about some of their more recent and interesting adventures. As well as, what was in Tony’s “care package.”

Each time they delivered him a shipment of metals, he gave them a massive amount of food, supplies, and things to take with them to sell in galactic markets. Turned out a lot of Earth metals go for quite a bit up there.

Thor was asleep in his chest, possibly dead, and he was snoring. Quill kept getting distracted by nothing at all, and Nebula was like talking to a (very deadly) wall sometimes. Jesus, how had these three not killed each other yet? He’d never admit it was nice to see them, even Thor. Well it wasn’t pleasing to the eye to see him, but it was good to know he was at least somewhat alive.

“So this will be the last shipment?” Nebula said, taking tentative drinks of the lemonade Tony had given her.

“Yep. For now at least. We’ll call you if we need you. How’s space?”

“Dangerous. But profitable,” Nebula said, watching Quill flick a piece of something into Thor’s beard. He had good aim.

“By that she means we got jumped by jammers. After we took ‘em out we jacked their crap. Got the Benatar some upgrades. I mean, after we paid to get it fixed. Jammers, man.”

“What’s a jammer?” Tony asked, having a vague idea of what they were.

By some magic Thor snorted awake, “Ruddy space pirates. They use their tech to jam your signals and navigation equipment. Then they storm your ship and take your stuff. Not a problem for the Asgardians of the Galaxy, eh guys?”

Nebula nodded, dangerously rasping, “Not at all.” There was something very murdery about her eyes that made Tony desperately wish he could have seen it all.

“Hell nah, been dealing with jammers my whole life. Suckers have shitty tech but always great booze. Hey Tony, where’s the kid?”

All of them looked at Tony.

“He’s at school. Getting an education. He’s great at it.”

Peter frowned and nodded, jutting out his lower jaw a bit, “That’s cool, that’s cool. When’s he uh, done with all that?”

“In a few months. In May.”

“Oh!” Thor slapped the table with his meaty gloved hand. “Like forever? Is he graduating?”

Tony was surprised Thor had enough brain cells left to form a four-syllable word. “He sure is.”

“We’ll be there! Just tell us when. I’ll show him a true Asgardian night out. Proud of him,” Thor said emotionally. For fuck’s sake.

“He’s not 21 yet, Thor. He turns 21 in August. Maybe one, but that’s it,” Tony shook his head.

“We will be there,” Nebula confirmed. Nebula was actually good at disguises unlike a certain hairy god.

“Yeah, for sure. I didn’t even finish elementary school. The kid’s a genius,” Star-Lord said, nodding his head. “Love that little dude.” After the Peters argued for hours about pop culture, they did discover that they had more in common than either of them could have ever known. And as they slowly starved to death, they’d become very good friends. Quill would die for that kid any day, and Peter had started thinking of him like a big brother. His superhero family was the only family Parker had left. Even if his older brother was now a bum from space. And his older sister wasn’t even human. “Welp,” Quill slapped the table, startling Thor into jerking awake again. “Time to hit the ol’ dusty trail. Got shit to hock! Yes!”

Nebula looked at Quill and just sighed, “Thank you, Tony. Send us that date. We will be available if you need anything.” She slapped Thor aggressively in his man boob and he stood up.

“Yes! Asgardians, things to sell,” Thor slapped Tony’s shoulder so hard he nearly knocked the man over and then waddled his way out of the cabin. Peter watched them go, but before he left he turned to Tony and rapidly began pulling something bright out of his pants pocket.

“Check it out, I got Peter a sweet freaking shirt from the Gears Shift factory. Y’know, the candy that saved our lives? Give it to him would you? See ya,” Quill, threw a bright green shirt at Tony and then all the Asgardians hopped on the Benatar and skedaddled back up to space. Tony just shook his head, looking at the shirt. It had alien writing on it. He remembered Quill used to have a similar shirt until they ripped it up and used it to bind someone’s wound.

Damn his life was weird now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> Jammers are my own creation.  
> Quill's shirt from the second movie with the Gears Shift logo:  
> [](https://imgur.com/r27kodN)  
> Picturing Quill as this sad, chonky Andy Dwyer boy is giving me so much life right now...


	6. Chapter 6

On the eve of their second date, Tony had stayed the night at the Avengers Facility. Cap was off on a mission and was going to get back while he was still sleeping. Anticipation rose in Tony’s chest when he’d arrived. He hadn’t spoken to the man since their first date…and last kiss. The only bad part was, he woke up to a snowstorm. It was only supposed to flurry. Guess it was mother nature telling him an indoor date was how it just had to be. There were worse things.

When he sauntered on into the kitchen for some pick-me-up, he was surprised to find Steve making blueberry pancakes. His favorite. Hmm. He smirked as he watched the big guy flip them.

“Morning Steve, smells good,” Tony plopped down and stole a few blueberries from the batter bowl. “Bad news Cap. Park date’s canceled.”

Steve glanced at the snowfall out of the window. “I don’t know, it doesn’t look that bad,” he said.

“I swear to god if you give me the whole, ‘Back in my day we walked through eight feet of snow,’ speech…”

Cap boinked his eyebrows once, “Well we did, though. But, hey, how about a breakfast date?” Cap gave him a plate of pancakes and sat next to him, watching him with those soft eyes.

Tony’s lips parted a little, “Excuse me?” When the actual fuck did Steve get this smooth? In his own dojo? “You smooth fucker,” Tony said exasperatedly.

Steve grinned a dazzling (and shit eating) smile, obviously knowing exactly what he was doing. “Well?” He poured syrup on his own breakfast, still looking sly.

“Alright, you win this one Rogers. So, how’d the mission go? I’m not really privy to what’s been happening,” Tony asked, cutting out little triangles with the side of his fork.

Steve ate a bite and said, “Someone was trying to get about a dozen Ultron drones working again. They’d bought them on the black market somewhere in Europe. It was a quick thing once Banner and I busted in there. I was kind of surprised he was willing to help this time, you know with how popular he’s gotten.”

Meanwhile Tony was irritated. It wasn’t the first time someone’s tried to do that. But it was the first time someone tried to do it to so many. Luckily with the CPUs destroyed Ultron was dead in the water, but it was possible that if a drone was reactivated in the right way, a version of Ultron could come back online but with a fresh slate and no memory. That was dangerous news. The US government was _supposed_ to make sure all drones were cleared and destroyed in efforts to help Sokovia. He hated it when shit fell through the cracks. It was always messy. That’s why he liked to do things himself.

“And the drones?”

Steve nodded. “Destroyed. We handled it. It was a pretty big operation, I’m glad we got tipped off so early in its development. What about you? Anything exciting happen in the few days since we’ve seen each other?”

Tony looked up at him, “Not really. Saw Thor.”

Steve shook his head sadly, “Poor guy.”

“Yeah.”

“Been thinking about our dance,” Steve said, smiling into the words. “Let’s do it again sometime.”

Tony liked the sound of that. “Sure thing.”

There was something magical about eating breakfast with Steve while they watched snow cover the lake outside. It was lovely, and probably a much better date than getting sweaty at a park. Steve was beautiful in his washed jeans and socks. It wasn’t the date he would have chosen, but it was nice anyway. Rogers was a such a giant sap. He watched as the man ate his pancakes—he was such a hungry guy—and then got more. He wished he could focus on the conversation, or eating, but the only thing he could really focus on was the way Steve’s lips curved around that fork. The way his eyes would warm when they looked at him. Or maybe even the way his biceps flexed when he brought his cup to his mouth. It had been years since Tony had slept with anyone, and fuck if this man’s very presence wasn’t like holding a burger over a starving man.

Tony always brushed his teeth first thing in the morning and was wearing comfortable jeans and a fitted cashmere sweater. He wasn’t self-conscious at all (he seldom was), but this date gave him that ridiculous embarrassed flutter that he honestly thought he was getting too old to ever feel again, making him want to check his already clean breath or shirt.

Steve noticed himself being watched and gave Tony that one-sided smirk that has always driven him wild. For heaven’s sake Tony wished he was that pancake Cap was chewing on.

Only one beat passed between them before Tony, finally losing what little self-control he had in the first place, leaned over and kissed the corner of Cap’s mouth. He put his hand on Steve’s shoulder, tilting his head and then finding the other man’s lips. He swore he heard a small noise come from Cap that sounded breathless or something, the noise might have even come from himself, how could he even tell with his own heart thudding in his ears?

Cap turned and grabbed the side of Tony’s neck, smooshing their faces together and kissing him sweetly. Tony had just meant to give him a little smooch, but Steve’s kiss was so good and comforting he couldn’t deny himself the feeling. Tony parted his lips to breathe, and the moment he did Cap gently slipped his tongue through the space, making their kiss so wet and personal, Tony was nearly in pain at how hard his dick throbbed. The way Steve’s tongue moved with his felt so naughty and perfect, he made a soft sound, sliding the hand on his bicep up to the back of Cap’s head. Tony didn’t want it to stop, so he kept kissing. Steve kept kissing right back.

His hair was soft, his body was warm, and Jesus this wasn’t enough for him. Steve must have thought the same thing, because he stood and gently guided Tony to stand up with him, wrapping his arms around him and pulling their bodies close. Tony could feel Cap’s pecks flexing as his arms moved to rub Tony’s back and waist. Steve had tasted like syrup and blueberries, but their tastes slowly melded until all he could feel was warmth and wetness between their mouths. Every movement of Steve’s jaw and every stroke of their tongues had Tony’s body coming alive, and he was pretty sure there were goosebumps on his arms. This was so much. It wasn’t like being kissed by anyone he’d had in not-so-recent memory, it was domineering, sweet, and kind of lusty. Tony didn’t let himself get dominated very often, but with Steve like this? He didn’t even want a choice.

Steve turned them so Tony’s bottom was pushed against the table, and Tony’s mind only vaguely mused that they were making out like horny teenagers. He pressed the full-length of his torso against Steve’s. The air was hot and Tony was suddenly desperate, kissing like he was on some sort of time limit.

“Steve, oh,” he breathed, pulling their lips away for only a second, just to have them covered again with Cap’s, who’d chased his mouth back into a kiss.

The other man breathed, “What is it, Tony,” between them, fingers lightly squeezing at a low part on Tony’s back. His voice was calm and considerate but filled with something husky.

Stark’s mind was a mess, “Let’s, uh, want to go downstairs?”

Tony met Cap’s eyes, breathing the thick air between them, his own heart racing as his body struggled to deal with how sensitive and hard his own cock was—which was pressed right up against Steve’s. Cap looked at him, at his face, at his lips, and then down between their bodies, licking his lips once and speaking.

“This is too fast.”

“Not for me,” Tony grabbed Steve’s face and made him look at him again. The other man’s eyes were full of want, but the knit of his eyebrows betrayed him—it almost gave Cap a look of desperation or hesitance, Tony wasn’t sure. “Unless it is for you?”

Rogers ran a hand through his own hair, his other hand was still firmly on Tony’s waist. “I just,” he breathed.

“I want this. You’d know if I didn’t,” Tony said, gaze steady. He knew Cap was old-fashioned, but the other man clearly wanted it too, if his grip and not-so-small hard-on were anything to go by.

Steve nodded, “I know. I just…I want to do this right. For you.”

Tony’s chest felt heavy. “Rogers,” he chuckled once, shaking his head. “You are.” Tony wondered if there was some dissonance happening with what Cap wanted and what his 1940s expectations told him were appropriate. “Unless you’re having second thoughts?”

“I’m not having second thoughts at all,” Steve’s voice was even. The way he said those last two words went straight to his dick.

“Then take me downstairs,” Stark said leaning up, almost in a challenging way.

The two held each other as a second of tense, lusty silence passed.

Steve leaned down and kissed Tony, pulling their bodies flush and saying a gravelly, “Okay.”

“Okay,” Tony slurred against their kiss, arms gripping the material of the other man’s shirt. “Okay,” he repeated, pushing Steve back a few steps. Steve let himself be guided backward until he just broke the kiss, took Tony by the waist and led him to the elevator. Tony couldn’t keep his hands off of the other man now that he had permission and ran one of them up and down Rogers’ back. Once the button was pushed and it opened, Steve pulled Tony inside in a fashion that reminded him of their dance. Charmer.

The elevator went down to the basement quickly. It was a floor like the penthouse, accessible only to other Avengers and Happy. As the doors opened, it was Tony who half kissed-half dragged Steve away from the elevator and into his not-so-used room. It was a big studio-style modern apartment that didn’t look like it was underground. The ceilings were high, the floors were a lovely matte black wood, and the décor was luxuriously cozy.

It wasn’t long before Tony had kissed Steve all the way to the bed. Steve pulled Tony to straddle him as he sat on the side of the bed, hands roaming all over Iron Man’s back. The brunet was nearly dizzy by how hot this all was, smiling as he kissed Rogers deeper. He let himself sink until his knees were caging Steve’s legs and firmly on the bed.

Steve held Tony close, their kissing sounding loud in the large, quiet room. Tony parted their lips to kiss Steve’s jaw, and then his neck, wanting to put his nose right where the man’s smell would be strongest. Steve let him, giving him access to his neck and then letting his hands slip down to cup Stark’s bottom.

He squeezed Tony’s ass, tentatively, and then with a stronger grip. He ran his big hands all the way from his clothed buttcheeks down the back of his thighs, where he squeezed some more. Tony loved it and showed him so by making his way back up and kissing him open-mouthed. Steve tilted his head and gently kissed him with tongue, stroking their tongues together in a way that had Tony moaning softly. The moan made Steve make a breathless sound, one that Tony didn’t think a man like him should even capable of.

Tony grabbed one of Cap’s pecks kneading the thick muscle for a moment before going lower, and actually palming the bigger man between them. The action made Cap gasp, and he grabbed Tony’s leg, roughly rubbing the softest part of the back of his upper thigh.

“Tony,” he said, voice sultry and different than the one he was used to giving them all orders.

“Yeah?” Tony gave Cap a slew of three deep kisses in quick succession, at the end of which he could feel Steve’s smile without opening his eyes. His hand was now slowly cradling and massaging Steve’s bulge, god he felt huge.

“I’ve got to tell you some—th—mmh—”

Tony kissed him again, and then paused with their foreheads together, letting Steve speak.

Steve quickly said, “I’ve never done this.”

Hold the phone.

Tony pulled away, lips parted, eyes blinking. He what now.

“Hmh oh my god,” Tony just shook his head. This was really hot and really inconvenient at the same time. He really was a 100 year-old-virgin. Rhodey owed him $80. “Wow.”

Steve nodded evenly, not looking ashamed, just slightly sheepish. “I know.”

“Well shit Rogers,” Tony laughed, a hand patting Cap’s chest. It was hard to think with those hands rubbing up and down the meatiest part of his upper thighs. “Need another lesson, Champ?”

“No,” Cap enunciated with a particularly naughty butt squeeze, giving him a look, “I mean, I know how it’s done. I’d just like to know what you want. How you want this to happen,” Steve’s eyes were nothing but calm and hungry, cheeks were rosy.

Honestly it wasn’t a hard decision. Tony wanted to blow Cap’s mind. For his first time, he knew what he wanted to do. Some part of him wanted to let Steve know _exactly_ what he’s been missing. He’d make fun of him relentlessly later. He wasn’t in the mood to go all slow and instructive, he wanted it now.

“You wanna know what I want?” Tony said in a smooth way, palm still moving over Rogers’ hard member. “I want this,” he squeezed Steve through his jeans, earning a moany-rasp. “In me. Sound simple? You’ll love it, promise.” He thought his words would turn Steve into a blushing bride or something but instead it just made the other man’s brows furrow and he grabbed Tony by the back of the head and kissed him, moaning into the kiss as his cock was squeezed again. Tony grinned, pushing Cap flat back on the bed so that he could press their hips together and just _grind_ the hardness of their cocks together in the most intimate way his body would let him.

Cap tilted his head back and moaned somewhere high in his vocal range, expression so pleasured it made Tony want to slap him for being so damn adorable. He reached up with one hand and grabbed the back of Steve’s head kissing him wetly as he ground their lower halves together. A noise escaped him too, god it just felt so good. They were both so hard he was certain it felt just as good for Cap. Vaguely, he wondered how far Steve had gotten with anyone else, but ultimately decided it didn’t matter. He reached between them and undid his own zipper, pulling his pants down to his thighs. Not breaking their lips apart at all, he reached down and undid Steve’s pants with one hand too, shoving his hand inside the warmth and palming him through his underwear. Steve held onto him, moaning between them and lightly moving into Tony’s hand. Tony got the lustiest butterflies he’d ever had as he continued to palm him, his own bottom being grabbed by Steve. The blond’s fingers rubbed and clenched his ass, until he seemingly got brave enough to just full on palm him back.

“Ah—oh,” Tony breathed, sliding his hand up to Rogers’ stomach and then slipping his fingers beneath the hem of his underwear. He pulled Steve free, grabbing the length of him in his hand and then looking down between them. How was he even surprised that Steve’s cock was so pretty and uncut? Of course it was. The model cock for the world’s most gorgeous super-soldier, as if he needed to be anymore attractive. It was large and nicely sized for such a large man, and Tony just wanted to kiss it. But he didn’t want to stop kissing Steve’s lips, no way. He gave him a slow pump, relishing the thick warm weight in his hand. Steve immediately moaned, moving against his fingers and then squeezing Tony in return.

With a hesitant feather-like grip, Steve reached and drew Tony’s member from its confines, a feat made somewhat difficult due to Tony’s love of tight name brand underwear. The moment he sprang free, Cap stopped kissing him for a moment to just look down between them. Tony wondered what he was thinking as he slowly picked up pace, pumping all the way from Steve’s balls to the head. Cap’s eyes fluttered closed and he bit his lip as his back arched a little, his own fingers squeezing around Tony’s member. Tony could feel that Cap wasn’t exactly experienced at this action, but it still felt great, the man was a fast learner after all. Tony wasn’t holding back how the touches made him feel, either. Steve’s hand slowly cupped his balls and then massaged them with his thumb in a way that had Tony reeling, and groaning. He thrust his hips gently against Steve’s hand, and gripped the comforter in a fist. Steve kept doing just that, and it was so good, Tony was more or less just absently working Cap’s member in time with those delicious movements. Cap’s moans were softer than he thought they’d be, almost shy at the moment.

Reaching between them, Tony gently moved Cap’s hand away from his member, and then dropped his hips, positioning their bodies and his grip so he could grind his length right against Steve’s. A deep groan left Steve’s lips as Tony rubbed their lengths and bases against each other, slowly and then more quickly. Between them they had achieved a delicious grind, the only sound kissing and caught breaths.

It was then that Tony reached the peak of his impatience. He pulled back and sat up, clearing his throat and sighing at the warm weight beneath him. Steve’s hands were on Tony’s legs, and he was looking up at him with his chest heaving evenly. Tony smirked, pleased that it seemed like the super-soldier was so excited his body was making him out of breath.

He scooted backward until he was off the bed, and then went over to his nightstand, pulling out a few things. As he approached, he just took off his pants and underwear, crawling right back to where he’d been. Tony leaned his upper half on Steve’s but kept his bottom up, kissing the surprised and cutely aroused expression right off of Rogers’ face.

“You know how it works huh?” Tony practically purred, holding up a condom. “Want me to put it on you?”

Cap blinked and then nodded, “Yeah.” As Tony sat up, Cap pulled his own pants and underwear down more, watching with attention as Tony opened the little condom wrapper. Tony gently slid the thing down Steve’s length until it was secure.

“Simple,” Tony said with a smirk, guessing that was the first time in his life Steve’s ever had one on. Steve nodded as he looked down at the bottle of lube near one of Stark’s knees and grabbed it, popping the cap. He squirted some on his fingers, reaching around and rubbing them right down the middle of Stark’s ass.

Tony was startled but pleased as hell that he didn’t have to walk him through this or do it all himself—hopefully—and so he took a deep breath, letting Cap get a feel for it. Tony pushed up Cap’s shirt, leaning down and kissing one of his pecks, then a nipple. Cap’s index finger slowly rubbed down Tony’s ass until he felt the small give of his rim. He circled his finger experimentally, switching between his middle and index. Tony could tell he was figuring it out, and he’d allow the slower pace for now. He was preoccupied with kissing and sucking at Cap’s marvelously plush chest. God, he could die here.

Steve ultimately began to softly dip his middle finger in and out of Tony’s bottom until he’d found a good rhythm and just kept going deeper with each push. Tony was so turned on that even the minimal stimulation felt great, and he was very relaxed. Steve was being gentle with him. He kissed his way up to Steve’s lips and took them again. As his tongue met Steve’s the man below him moaned softly, most of his entire middle finger having disappeared inside of Tony. Steve thrust the finger in and out before quickly adding another one—almost a little too quickly, but Tony didn’t really mind.

“Easy there, Rogers,” Tony said against Steve’s chin, which he took the liberty of softly biting with just the tips of his front and bottom teeth. When he pulled back to look at the other man it was clear Steve was sorry. The look on his face was pretty darn delightful, so he was forgiven. “It’s fine, keep it coming.”

More easily this time Steve worked in a second finger until he was just thrusting two of them in and out of Tony’s ass so smoothly he wanted to whine about it. Steve’s fingers rubbed against his prostate with every little thrust, but he was a man who needed more than just fingers to really get him going, even though they felt amazing. Tony still made small sounds because it did feel nice. Steve was quiet, seeming focused. Steve must have either watched porn or done this to someone because he was widening and moving his fingers in a way that was suspiciously pleasing. With each small movement, Tony knew he was closer to having the thing he wanted most inside of him. He was grinding his hips against Steve’s urging him to pick up the pace.

Steve did get the hint, or maybe he was impatient too, and really began to work Tony’s ass. He began stretching out Tony’s bottom like a pro, and suddenly Tony was very certain he’d done this before. His suspicion faded to something like joy when Steve made it a point to drag his fingers nice and slow over the swell of his prostate with each movement. Oh, fuck yes...He couldn’t take it anymore, he needed it now.

“That’s good enough.” He kissed Steve quickly, rolling over onto his back and spreading his knees to make room. “C’mere.” Steve rolled over, knocking some hair loose so it laid on his forehead. Tony looked up at him and marveled at how pretty he was from this angle too. There weren’t many people he trusted left in this world, and he knew the same could be said for Steve, so he was freaking happy that he’d be the one taking his virginity and not some rando. He hoped this was the first night of many. As he watched Steve squirt lube onto his hand and rub himself with it, he realized this was a whole new and exciting part of Steve he’d definitely never known. After all this, he couldn’t wait to learn more about him.

Steve got so that his legs were in between Tony’s. Tony lifted his legs so they were around Steve’s lower waist. The blond just stared down at him for a second with his lips slightly parted, looking focused and incredibly turned on. Steve leaned down and kissed him, reaching between them and using his hands to put himself into position. He found his mark, slowly pushing the head of his member against Tony’s rim. Stark reached up and wrapped his arms around Steve, rubbing up and down his muscular back, kissing him hungrily. Steve’s shirt had fallen back down, but he didn’t care at the moment, as long as he could feel his warm muscles.

With one small thrust, Steve gently slid all the way inside Tony until the skin of their groins were flush. Tony arched against the other man’s body and gasped, because oh god it was so much better than his fingers. His girth felt huge and perfect inside of him, and he was more than big enough to stimulate Tony’s prostate in that way that drove him nuts. Cap had also gasped and turned his head away—giving Tony a perfect angle to kiss and bite his ear. Steve pulled his hips back and then slowly thrusted in again. Tony moaned, open mouthed against Cap’s ear. Cap only thrusted slow a few more times before he began an even slew of thrusts, deep breathy grunts and sighs leaving his lips.

Each noise and movement went straight to Tony’s cock and prostate, and honestly he didn’t care to touch himself right now. This was all he wanted. He clenched his insides in a way he knew Cap would like, and that was a mistake because Cap gasped a high pitched noise that would haunt Tony’s wet dreams for weeks. He grabbed that handsome face and kissed him sloppily, Cap’s pace getting harder and quicker until the sound of their bodies slapping together grew loud and salacious.

Soon something changed and it all became very frantic. Cap was pounding fast into Tony’s body, making him arch and tremble. Steve was using so much power he was actually moving Tony farther up the bed with every thrust. Eventually, Tony’s head hit the headboard, or else he wouldn’t have even noticed. His head made a soft noise that alerted Cap, who reached down and kissed the chuckle from Tony’s lips.

Above him, he saw Cap reach out an arm and grip the low headboard. Tony wrapped his legs tighter around Cap’s body, forcing Steve to just grind for a moment, causing them both to gasp from how good the friction was for their stimulated bodies. The grinding descended into hard, rapid thrusts and harsh panting. Both of them were gasping, moaning, and desperately moving against each other. Their kisses were wet and sloppy, and they were just suddenly not close enough. Abandoning kissing altogether, Steve buried his face into Tony’s shoulder, pounding into Tony so roughly that Tony was already seeing stars. He was so close, he wanted it. Tony reached between them and began to pump himself, gasping Steve’s name as he came hard all over his hand and Steve’s stomach. His orgasm was just so abrupt and good that he wanted to ride it out and kept moving against him. Steve slapped into Tony quickly, and then buried himself deep, grinding into his ass as he came with a loud gasp-like moan. He kept grinding, hips twitching with each spurt of his release. Even though Tony couldn’t feel the come inside him, he knew it must have been a lot by the way Steve kept thrusting into him and milking his orgasm.

Both of them just lay there softly moving against each other until Steve pulled back and kissed Tony gently, one hand going up and down his thigh.

They just breathed each other and kissed, both refusing to move. The afterglow bliss didn’t last long as Tony cussed quietly, shifting one of his legs which was starting to cramp.

Steve laughed quietly, it was such a rare and cute noise, it made Tony laugh too. “Language,” Cap mumbled blissfully against Tony’s lips with the hint of a smirk. Tony full on slapped Cap’s ass.

“Watch _your_ fuckin’ language,” Tony said. Then he squeezed Cap’s ass, because Jesus what an ass. He slapped it once in passing, and he stared at it all the time, but his? Oh god, it was glorious. He continued to squeeze and knead Cap’s bottom, eventually just giving it a few gratuitous pats. Tony was actually struggling with the realization of what’s just happened between them…but seeing as how there was visible evidence staining Cap’s poor shirt, it was sinking in pretty fast. Cap was such a considerate lover it seemed, and even though Tony was pretty sure Steve was overwhelmed and dazed for most of this, he could tell the other man had been trying to respond to his noises. He was a great already at understanding what felt good, what was comfortable, and had already found ways to tweak things in order to drive Tony wild, just from watching and listening. This was good for a first time. Much better than his own.

“How was it? Your first time?”

Steve was staring down at where their hips were still joined. Tony could barely see the blue of his eyes because of those eyelashes. “Wonderful, Tony,” Steve said in a hushed tone, like it was a secret or something. He gently pulled out of Tony’s body—which gave Tony shivers—and watched as he did so. There was something on his face Tony was trying to recognize, he couldn’t tell if it was wonder, pleasure, a mix of both or something else. Whatever it was it was cute. Steve was cute.

“Good.” Tony sat up, watching Steve throw away the condom. “Need a minute? Shower?”

Steve pulled his pants back up, zipped them, and then just took his shirt off. Steve’s body had always been gorgeous and profoundly unattainable.

Tony was proud of his own six pack. Seven and eight were fighting with all the chocolatey non-protein shakes he kept sneaking on days he didn’t work out.

“No,” Steve said, getting back into bed and just looking down at Tony. Tony looked up at him with a little suspicious eye-narrow. What did he want with a look like that? He didn’t have to wait long to find out as Steve leaned down and kissed him, straddling his hips and just sitting on his naked thighs, tongue softly parting Tony’s lips. Tony kissed him back, a hand coming to play with Steve’s hair. He could get used to this. He really loved this. Blowing Steve Rogers’ mind was his new favorite pastime. Maybe this time they’d both been too eager, but it had still been great.

He could tell by way Steve was kissing him that he was more relaxed and sated, either with this whole situation or just in the moment. Tony didn’t know, and he didn’t care, all he cared about was that Steve Roger’s was straddling him and kissing him like no one else existed, and he couldn’t get enough of it.

\---

Nebula had laid down to rest and recharge a little. It was “late” on the Guardians’ ship. They’d just finished selling every last bit of the cargo Tony had given them. She sat with her back against a bay-bed wall, eyes off. Her cybernetics increased her hearing and eyesight, which honestly was a burden with Quill and Thor around if she didn’t turn them off. They were such gross creatures. She did love them, just from afar. As her mind began to wonder which star system would be more profitable this week, she heard Quill sniffle distantly.

She barely opened her eyes, seeing Quill sitting at the planning table and holding his chin. Their ship was dim, and aside from the mechanics of everything running while the ship went autopilot, it was quiet. He was turned away from her mostly, and he had his elbow on the table. This wasn’t exactly new, but it had been a very long time since she’d seen him so sad. The man never really cried full-on tears and snot, but he’d get this glossy-eyed look when he thought no one was watching. The moment she’d decided to get up, she heard Thor’s massive footsteps coming downstairs.

He went down to the conference room and stopped when he saw Quill. She watched as Thor slapped a hand on Thor’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

“Good evening, Quill.”

“Oh, hey dude! What’s up?” he turned and she heard the gross sound of him wiping his nose on his sleeve. “Hungry? I was ah just about to make some ornams. With sauce,” Quill boinked his eyebrows a few times.

Thor just looked at Quill’s face and nodded, a sober and kind look crossing his features, “Oh hell yeah, fire them up.” The pair walked to the Guardians’ miniscule kitchenette built into the wall near their parachutes. Star-Lord threw some potato-like things into a bowl and popped them into their quick-oven. Thor heated up the cheese-like sauce—it certainly did not come from cows—in a separate device.

When the machine beeped, Quill took out the bowl and then held it up for Thor to pour the sauce on. As Thor did that, Quill ripped open a package of bacon-strip like meat pieces and sprinkled them on too. When they both had their hands over the bowl, their hands brushed.

Nebula knew them well enough to know that usually when their hands touched they’d smack each other around or just be stupid about it in general, but this time, the pair just looked at each other in the dim glow of the tech.

“We uh,” Star-Lord said, audibly swallowing, “Need some music. I forgot to put on some music.”

“It’s fine, I’ll do it. I like that one about the Bohemians,” Thor mumbled, leaning down into their cooling box to pull out a few peach-colored sodas. “Cool?”

“Yeah,” Quill said, head following Thor when he strode away to the wall the music-player was plugged into. “Also it’s not about Bohemians man.”

Thor laughed, “Whatever,” and turned on the radio.

Nebula shut her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ ](http://i.imgur.com/s33yvbx)


	7. Chapter 7

“…and so that is why today, I’m asking you to join us in making a difference. What can you do to help make the world a better place for yourself, your kids, their kids, and everyone that comes after? What can you do to be a part,” he paused for effect as a giant image slowly appeared behind him on the screen. “…of the solution?”

A humongous _Stark Solutions_ logo appeared behind Peter, who was standing on a stage in front of almost 10,000 people. Some were fans, some were reporters, but a great many of them were investors and shareholders from some of the biggest companies in the world. There were a few sign language translators on stage with him, translating in American English and British English. Other than them, he was alone with thousands of eyes on him. It used to terrify him, but now he got a sort of excitement out of it all. His adrenaline kicked up and he felt alert and ready…It was easier when he was actually talking about something he cared for.

It was a moment of silence before his ears caught up to the massive roar of applause directed at him. He grinned and smiled, opening his arms and waving to everyone. “Thank you!” The microphone on his lapel recorded his words, but the crowd was so loud he was sure no one heard it. He waved, took questions for about an hour, and then he was walking back to his plane. Well, his dad’s plane.

“Happy!” Peter ran up to the big man and gave him a hug and then a double thumbs up. “How was I? To cliché? I think it went great!” He threw up his arms, walking over and flopping back on one of the private jet’s comfortable couches. “And they didn’t ask me a single question I didn’t know the answer to. Yes!”

Happy nodded, patting Peter’s back and then sitting down. “You did really good. It was kind of cliché, but it worked.” Soon the plane was up in the air, making the long trip back to New York from London.

“Wow, the first of many, Happy!” Peter hopped up, grinning with excitement and pacing. “Oh man, I wonder if I can get that translator working by the time the conference in Berlin happens.”

“Peter, you have class in 24 hours. You’ve got to work on your thesis. Berlin’s not for months.”

“I know, I know. I just, gosh, this is just so big. I really want to impress them!”

“I’m sure you will, take a chill pill and watch a movie or something. You’ve been going nonstop for three weeks straight. Don’t you need to sleep?”

“What? Sleep? Happy, don’t be crazy,” Peter chuckled, rolling up his sleeves and then sighing. He sipped a carbonated orange juice—his move favorite drink in the world at the moment—and scratched the stubble coming in on his chin. “I hate shaving…”

“Don’t we all.”

A few hours later, they’d watched two strange short films and one completely bizarre cartoon. Happy got up to go to the bathroom as Peter flipped through the choices.

“Okay, I want to watch that documentary about the history of Hasbro and forget about the last three hours of my life...”

“That sounds like a plan,” Happy said, sounding genuinely relieved to watch something more palatable.

As Happy waddled over to sit by Peter, Peter’s chest thudded with an absolute sense of sudden and impending alarm. A whirring noise started up somewhere. Happy was sitting, but the action looked like it was in slow motion, the clouds went by sluggishly and the sound of the jet engines faded into a dull hum.

Something was very wrong, and Peter only had about a full two seconds to react. He clanged his wrists together, then reached out and grabbed Happy by the arm while his Peter-tingle tingled in all the wrong ways. His eyes widened and he grabbed Happy, dragging him toward the front of the plane as the whirring in his ears got louder and louder until the world was suddenly going too fast and large explosion knocked them both backward.

There was a whining, sharp ring in his ears as wind suddenly sucked him and Happy from the craft. There was screaming, and fire, and he was falling with Happy’s arm still clutched tight in his grip. His suit formed around him just as a second explosion rang so loud it nearly knocked Peter out. His eyes were wide and focused. He wasn’t even breathing as he looked up and around, seeing the back half of the plane falling, on fire.

The wind rushed by so hard and fast he couldn’t hear anything except Happy shouting. He looked down and saw part of the cabin twirling slowly, spewing debris, liquid and smoke. Peter couldn’t see anyone falling, and knew in the pit of his stomach that their stewardess who was in the back half of the plane was gone. Karen confirmed no life was left in the back.

He shouted, activating the thrusters on his suit after wrapping an arm around Happy’s big waist, flying straight toward the front half of the plane. Happy held onto him tighter as he yelled at Karen to increase power, flying hard and fast toward the cabin. With the special vision tech through his mask, he could see the captain was alive, strapped to his chair, the sudden force had probably knocked him out.

He stuck himself to the side of the plane as it tumbled on its way down. There were remnants of both wings left, and they were causing the plane to spin in ways that made Happy’s limbs get thrown around painfully. He crawled inside the plane, webbed the captain’s door and then walked inside of it, using one arm to break the seatbelt and yank the unconscious captain out by his shirt. He wrapped both of his arms around the men and ran, jumping out of the falling cabin and turning on his leg and back thrusters full-blast.

“Karen, are we being attacked?! I can’t see anybody!” Peter shouted, flying as far away from the plane as he could get. They were still high up in the sky, and pieces of debris flickered in the sunshine like little pieces of mirror around them. “Karen!?”

“No, there’s no one. My scanners indicate that whatever caused this explosion was already on the plane.”

“What?! Nevermind, where are we?!”

“Over the North Atlantic Ocean. We are over 1,000 miles from any major city.”

Oh god, he couldn’t breathe. He gasped, looking down and watching as the water rushed ever closer. He gasped and noticed beside him Happy was hyperventilating. He couldn’t calm him while holding him like this. “Karen, call my dad! Call someone! We need help,” he caught his breath, slowing down and flying more vertically so that his thrusters would cushion their fall. All of a sudden he and Happy and the Captain fell into the thick expanse of the water, the massive waves sloshing them around. He took one of his wrist bracelets off and slapped it on the captain. “Karen, give him a helmet, how are his vitals?” The tech went up the captain’s arm and a spider-helmet formed around his face, making an airtight seal around his neck and right arm. The new space metal he and Stark had been working on had the ability to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen under the right conditions. Even though it was a prototype, Karen reported it was working and his vitals were stable. He had no major injuries. Grabbing Happy, his own mask faded away and he tried looking the man in the eyes. Happy’s hair was crazy, there were tears in his eyes—probably more from the wind hitting him in the face so hard than terror—and he looked shocked, but not as frightened as Peter thought he’d be.

“Happy, Happy? Are you okay? Hey!” Peter held onto him, lightly getting the other man’s attention. “We’re okay! It’s okay!” Far in the distance the plane parts crashed into the ocean. Peter had flown hard and fast down toward the ground, so they were much faster than the free-falling plane.

“We’re okay,” Happy said with wide eyes and a strangled voice.

“We’re okay,” Peter repeated, holding the two men to himself as he treaded water in the middle of nowhere. The water wasn’t too cold even though it was February, so at least they wouldn’t freeze to death before anyone got there. Peter’s mind was a mess, but focused on the task at hand. Keep these two alive until help came. That’ all. It was going to be okay. He couldn’t look down, he couldn’t think about how deep the water was.

“Peter, incoming call from Tony Stark.”

\---

“There they are,” Rhodey said, pointing at a blip on the monitor. Rhodey flew the quinjet down near the water’s surface, letting it hover just above the waves.

It had taken a little over an hour for them to reach Peter and the men. The quinjet’s cargo door dropped open and Tony flew out in full red-and-gold armor, swooping down to grab peter up under the arms. He flew all three of them back into the carrier, safely depositing them onto the cold metal floor of the jet.

Peter let out a massive exhale, collapsing onto the floor, and then scrambling up to hug Tony. He wrapped his arms around him and squeezed him tight. Tony wrapped his arms around Peter, burying his nose in Peter’s wet hair.

“I’m okay, Dad,” Peter said shakily, overcome with relief. Even though this wasn’t bad guys shooting at him or Thanos throwing moons at them, it was still terrifying. Rhodey put the plane into autopilot and closed the cargo door, giving the captain and Happy first-aid.

Peter looked up at Tony and smiled nervously. “Did you find out what happened?”

“Friday’s telling me it must have been an inside job, so I’m having all of our planes inspected this week. I’m having someone collect that wreckage too. They’re on their way now. We’re going to find out exactly what happened so that I can find out exactly who the hell I need to fry,” Tony said calmly. His dad was still gripping his shoulder as they took off back toward New York.

“Oh,” Peter said. Tony’s suit receded back into his chest piece. He pulled his glasses out of a pocket and just shook his head slowly. Peter could tell he was worried and beyond angry, he was too, but mostly because they all could have died. And someone did, he felt so guilty he couldn’t save their stewardess. She’d been his stewardess for over three years, and he had really adored her. His mind was still trying to process the whole thing. It was rare they were ever in dark about anything. It didn’t help that the Avengers were pretty scattered right now with everyone off on important missions, so only Rhodey was able to come with Tony when they made their emergency exit.

The flight home was unusually quiet.

Tony refused to let Peter go back to school after that for at least a week, something Peter didn’t fight against. Tony paid for the stewardess’s whole funeral and gave her family an absurd amount of money after telling them the truth, but for the most part kept the whole ordeal under wraps. Tony was livid, beyond livid. His blood boiled at the very thought of his son almost dying in one of his own planes, because of negligence somewhere down the line. His blood boiled than an innocent lady died because somewhere, some fucking thing fell through the cracks. The world didn’t know Peter Parker was Spider-Man yet, but the world did know that Peter Parker was Stark’s son. Tony wished beyond all-reason that that didn’t put a target on Peter’s back.

There was a heavy investigation into what had caused the plane explosion. After recovering the wreckage, it was found that there were three more bombs built into the very framework of the plane that hadn’t gone off or it would have killed them all. Tony clenched his fists, he was not thinking about this right now.

He reached out and gripped Peter’s shoulder, sitting quietly at the table. He, Steve, Nat, and Rhodey were all sitting around too, eating Peter’s favorite foods—cherry pie and chicken and dumplings. They were the only two things Aunt May used to cook that were delicious in every way. And even though she was gone, Cap made a pretty good cherry pie too. Rhodey cooked the chicken and dumplings. It was a strange dinner, but it made them all feel better. The conversation was light between them all, and they hadn’t been talking about the incident. After all, it was done and over, and they were looking into it.

It was also really nice to have Peter home in Avengers HQ. Everyone had missed him. Tony missed him so much it hurt, and he was right here. Steve kept giving him little looks across the table, and Tony did find them comforting. They had been dating for a few weeks now, and it was nice. He’d also forgotten how good it was to spend time with the only other people on the planet who cared about him, go figure.

“Well, I’m beat, I think I’m gonna go to bed,” Peter said, eating the last cherry off his plate and standing up. He had been wearing the shirt Star-Lord got him for about three days in a row. It rode up a little when he stretched his arms above his head, going around and hugging everyone’s face who was sitting at the table.. “G’night,” he called. The Avengers watched him go after giving him a chorus of good-nights.

The moment he was out of the room Tony’s mind went straight back to what had happened. He was gonna fry the fucker that tried to blow up his baby himself if he had too. He felt a squeeze on his arm and looked to see Cap’s kind expression directed his way. He crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair. As he boiled in his chair, Nat stood and cleared their plates and bowls.

“We’re going to find out who did this, Tony,” Nat said.

“I know,” he said, sipping some tea and trying to calm down. After some discussion of other related material, Tony stood to go to bed. Cap followed him. They hadn’t been sleeping in the same bed together, but they had had sex one more time since the breakfast date. It was good, and it had been just as fast (a little too fast seeing as how they were both way too lonely for their own good). As of late, Tony hadn’t been very affectionate. His mind was so hyper-focused on other things, and he knew Cap was just as distracted. He checked on Peter, who was sleeping like a figurative bug-in-a-rug.

Cap was rubbing circles in the middle of Tony’s back, and walked him down to Tony’s basement apartment. Cap followed him in, sitting on the corner of the brunet’s bed and just watching him.

Tony changed into his pajamas—a black tank and sleeping pants—before sitting beside Steve and sighing. He hadn’t been sleeping well because of all this. He knew Peter was going to have to go back to school, and he trusted him, but just knowing someone out there was actively trying to hurt him gave him night terrors just as bad as the one’s he still sometimes had about the wormhole…about Thanos.

“Hey, c’mere,” Steve said softly, pulling Tony to him and rubbing the side of his arm. “Think you’d sleep better tonight if I stayed in here with you?”

Tony looked up at him, rolling his jaw and nodding. The idea of not being alone in his bed that night sounded just fantastic suddenly. “Yeah. Only if you don’t mind having 12% of the bed.”

Steve nodded, eyes smile-crinkling, “Sounds fair. It’s pretty big.”

Steve’s fingers guided Tony’s chin up so their lips could meet in a light kiss. Tony tilted his head and kissed him back, pressing harder than Cap was. He pulled away, huffing, and then stood up and crawled in bed. Cap joined him when Friday dimmed the lights. Tony felt a pair of big arms wrap around him, pulling him into being the little spoon. He’d allow it, since it felt so good having his best friend and lover’s body up against him like this. He did end up sleeping much better.

\---

Peter woke up in the middle of the night, ate breakfast with Bucky—who was always awake—and then got to work on a special translator he’d been developing over the past few months. It was made with a space tech similar to the kind Quill had in his neck. Quill’s sensed the point you wanted to get across and the emotion you wanted to convey via brain wave detections, while having a massive database of languages throughout space. It was a complicated device that made the user able to hear what the other person wanted to get across in the language one’s brain was wired in. Quill’s even understood sarcasm and suggestive themes. It was such an amazing and complex piece of space tech that Peter had begged Quill to get him one. It turned out the things were crazy expensive, but a few months back Quill had managed. He’d been studying the thing since Quill’s had even worked on Earth. Peter had been trying to make one that humans could use that worked on a similar principle as a side-project, but he wasn’t having much luck. With a sigh, he looked at his clock. It was only 6 o’clock in the morning.

With a sigh, he posted some tweets to his Spider-Man™ twitter account, ate some more food, bothered Happy (who was doing much better but had trouble sleeping too), watched some TV…he looked at the clock—only thirty minutes had passed. He groaned, running his hands down his face.

Suddenly he had an idea. Tony had been really angry and depressed all week. If he was still having trouble sleeping, they could go for an early morning milkshake. Just a small drive through upstate New York. It’d be really nice. Peter had been trying not to focus too much on the incident, after all, that wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened to him, and kept trying to focus on that at least he saved everyone he could. He did his best, and he was only comforted by the fact the stewardess had had a quick and painless death. He tried to push down the thoughts that screamed at him that it was his fault in the first place she was gone. If he dwelled on those too long he wouldn’t ever leave his room or get out of bed. The price of being a superhero and being famous was often insurmountable.

He took a shower and finally put on something more presentable. Hopping in the elevator and bobbing his head to one of Quill’s favorite songs—“Dancing Queen” was a guilty pleasure—he arrived in the basement, surprised Tony wasn’t working on something down here. Maybe he’d managed to get to sleep tonight? He opened the door to Tony’s room, which was never locked. When it was, he minded his own business.

He actually peaked in just in case Tony was sleeping. It was dimly lit since Tony hated to sleep in the dark. He could still only see a big lump in the shiny satin comforter. He listened for a moment, hearing even breathing, and then what sounded like two sets? “Dad?” he called softly. Someone immediately sat up from his voice, and instead of his father it was Steve-freaking-Rogers, hair messy and shirt rumpled.

“What the fu—!”

\---

“Run! Run, Jesus Christ!” Quill shouted, running and weaving toward the Benatar through alien trees as a slew of shots rang past his helmet. He heard the bumblebee like buzz-hum of the laser rounds just barely missing his head. He may have been chunky, but he was fast! At least he thought so. Until all of a sudden felt immense pain and one of his legs gave out, making him fall down hard before he had a chance to zoom away on his leg jets. “Fuck! Did I just get shot in the ass?!”

They had just tried to make a deal that went south real quick—now they knew never to trust punks from Kukat. Quill felt a hot burning pain deep in his left ass-cheek. It shot waves of pain down his leg and up that side of his body. “Shit!” Quill forced himself to stand up, turning around and firing his blasters at the two-legged five-eyed slimy Kukat pricks. He took cover behind one of the smooth white trees, panting raggedly and squinting, “Thor!?”

One of the aliens tackled him out of nowhere, teeth ripping into his shoulder. He shouted, immediately shooting the thing until stopped moving, but then two more were on him. Quill was dog-piled with three or four aliens, all trying to frantically punch, bite, or kick him. Just as he felt one’s teeth sink into his upper thigh, he heard the familiar woosh of a large object coming toward them. Stormbreaker burst through the huddle, and as Thor called it back, it sliced through them again. Thor ran to him, grabbing up the axe and slicing a few of their heads off. He reached down and hauled Quill up shouting, “I left you for sixty seconds, Quill!”

“Yeah, yeah shut up!” Quill shouted, heart racing and ass burning. He turned and summoned what strength he had left to make his way back to the ship. He practically belly flopped into the ship because he tripped, shouting as whatever the hell happened to his shoulder shot his body up with more pain. Thor threw his axe out one more time, decapitating a few aliens—and poor trees—and the moment he caught it Nebula closed the door and drove them toward space.

Quill was panting raggedly. He pushed the button on his helmet, and as it retracted, it revealed his wide eyes and sweaty temples. “Thor! Give me a tab! I got shot in the fucking ass!”

Thor looked at him and then just started belly-laughing, grabbing a healing tab—a type of pill they’d jacked off of some Kree militia—and tossed it to him. This wasn’t exactly new for them. Ever since getting Thor, they all got hurt a lot less. However, Quill still managed to get hurt more than all of them, even with the god at his side. Quill chewed one of the chalky tabs, wincing in pain as his shoulder and leg throbbed. He was actually leaking a lot of blood through his pants and jacket. Nebula came over to help him take off some items of clothing, shaking her head and giving Quill water. “Can I trust you two with nothing?”

“They started shooting at us first,” Thor said, pointing to Nebula with his axe. Nebula wondered if the only reason Thor even came along was to make sure Quill didn’t die, seeing as how he almost always did if there were more than five guys shooting at them. “They got greedy! It wasn’t our fault this time!”

“Whatever,” she hissed, standing and washing Quill’s blood off of her hands. Thor was useful when he actually got off of the couch and helped them. She was thankful he at least contributed, even if he was hammered 90% of the time. His hair was still long and his beard was still nuts, but she beat him with tools if he didn’t bathe, so at least their ship didn’t stink (anymore).

Quill meanwhile sighed, the healing tab working, making him feel all warm. Sometimes it made him feel like he was peeing. He checked, nope, not actual pee this time. “Well that sucked,” he groaned, smooshing and rubbing his face with a hand. His hair was messy—but still cut the way he usually had it. He was just laying pathetically on his side, noticing a box of cookies under the briefing table from this angle.

“Thor…kick me those cookies woudja?”

Thor looked around, finding them and sliding them across the ship floor. Quill got one triangular cookie in his mouth before the healing tab knocked him out. His head hit the metal floor with a clunk and his mouth fell open. Thor came over, reaching down and gently hefting him up bridal style. He effortlessly carried him over to Quill’s bed, laying him down and then turning him on his side to see that yes, he was indeed shot in the ass.

By the time Quill woke up, his body felt heavy, but he wasn’t in pain anymore. He rolled over and groaned, staring at the ceiling and coughing. God that sucked. The sound of a song softly playing filled him with some joy, there was nothing he liked more than waking up to Bill Withers’ smooth voice. “Ain’t No Sunshine” was playing quietly as he sauntered on up the stairs to the cockpit of the ship. The brilliant colors of space and stars streamed by the windows, casting ghostly colorful light on the metal of the ship’s interior. One of his favorite parts about being the captain—and he was the captain, absolutely not Thor—was this part. Watching the stars go quietly, but that was the problem. Space was too quiet.

Thor was sitting in the captain’s chair, hand messing with his beard, eyes hard and set on the viewing window.

“What’s up dude?” Quill asked, slapping his shoulder.

“Oh you know, things,” Thor said gruffly, looking up at him and nodding. “Why? What’s up with you? You look better.”

Quill nodded, “Oh yeah, I feel better. I fucking hate Kukats, geez.” He rolled his shoulder, stretching and realizing he was still in disgusting, torn clothes. He saw Nebula was resting in a chair in the back, a blanket over her lap. “I’m gonna go shower, hey if you make us some soup we can watch _Star Wars 4_ again.” Peter had given Quill a whole plethora of movies on a big drive the last time they’d visited, something he’d been taking advantage of everyday since.

Thor stood immediately, “Consider it done.” Quill liked _Star Wars_ , and he was surprised that Thor absolutely loved it—so much that he often used _Star Wars_ as a bribe.

When Quill was nice and clean and in fresh clothes, he found a bowl of soup waiting for him on the table. Star-Lord snatched up a soup bowl and tilted it back, chugging it down because tabs made one ravenously hungry.

Just as he finished it, the song “I Just Want to Be Your Everything” began playing. He canted his hips to the beat, loving the intro and singing it under his breath. He started moving one foot, the music already making him feel better. He was singing the song to the holo screen which was paused on the intro to _Star Wars: A New Hope_.

“Watch it and see, if you give a little more than you’re asking for,” and in a funny high pitched voice, “Your love will turn the key, ah ahh ah ahhh…” he happily nodded his head, moving his arms with the beat. He continued to hum the tune until he was full-on singing it, not even caring wherever the heck Thor went, this was one of his most favorites. His mama and him would sing it together when she was making breakfast sometimes. The song just genuinely made him very happy.

“Darlin’ for so long, you and I been findin’ each other for long,” he shimmied backward and forward, “And the feelin’ that I feel for you is more than strong, girl, take it from me—” he turned to grab the remote just as he caught sight of Thor just standing there and watching him. How long had he been there? He never really felt embarrassed for singing, but something about Thor’s look irritatedly made him feel sheepish, “What? Gibb’s the man.”

Thor came toward him and took him by jaw, looking at him for a moment. One of Quill’s eyebrows quirked and he licked his own lips, heart suddenly falling out of his nearly-broken ass. Before he could say anything, Thor kissed him roughly, just as the song ended. Thor’s lips were warm and his beard was scratchy. It was wonderful and dirty and holy shit he was kissing Thor. Quill’s arms flew out and he grabbed the other man’s forearms. “Whoa!” He said looking evenly at Thor, who was barely an inch taller than him. “What, I mean…like,” he stumbled, having a hard time concentrating with Thor’s warm and rough hands smooshing his cheeks in a way that was almost goofy.

“You’re cute as hell when you do that,” Thor said, letting go of Quill’s face.

He blinked, “What? You kissed me, bastard,” Star-Lord put his hands on his hips, gesturing wildly with a hand but having no words to say.

Thor smirked at him, seeming only a little less than fully smashed at the moment, “And?”

“And!” Star-Lord squeezed the remote, not seeming to know what else to do. This was a lot, he thought the sexual tension they had was like bro tension, every dude felt it. But maybe it wasn’t? And he kind of really liked that kiss? And he was lonely as fuck? “I don’t know!”

Thor made a frowny kind of smile that was more of a look of amusement than anything else, “And all I know, is that your sorry ass is the only reason I get out of bed in the morning.” Even though it was slurry, accented, and drunken-sounding, the heaviness of Thor’s voice gave Quill pause.

“Well…” he didn’t have much to say, that was the sweetest thing anyone had said to him in almost five years. “I’m not gay, bro…”

Thor shrugged, “Neither am I.”

Maybe…maybe he was feeling just a little gay right now. Like, just a tiny bit gay for Thor, but a lot of guys were gay for Thor. He’s heard even genderless asexual aliens were kinda gay for Thor. He was feeling a lot of things.

“Um…well you…you’re drunk, so…Maybe we can talk about this when you’re not about to collapse?” Quill rubbed the back of his own head, cheeks burning a bit.

Thor sat heavily, “Cool.”

“Cool,” Quill responded, clapping his hands once and then pointing at nothing. “I’m gonna like, take another tab and go to bed I think. I got pretty hurt today so…have fun watching the Death Star get blown up.”

He escaped in probably the most un-cool way he’d ever escaped a situation and took a tab, hoping it would knock him out until the morning, possibly forever, or at least until his face stopped burning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> [](http://i.imgur.com/xXrHAqF)  
> The Kukat alien race is one I made up.  
> This chapter is dedicated to my friend Silver_Centurion.  
> Here are the songs Quill's singing:  
> ["Ain’t No Sunshine" by Bill Withers.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBKcAc8VpIw)  
> ["I Just Want to Be Your Everything" by Andy Gibb.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA6L8-lxaA8g)  
> These are two songs very dear to my heart. I hope you enjoy them.  
> 


	8. Chapter 8

“So when were you guys gonna tell me you were seeing each other?” Peter said, seriously. Both Steve and Tony were now awake and sitting on the end of the bed.

Tony actually thought this was hilarious, he’d just kind of hadn’t found the time to tell the kid yet.

Steve spoke before he could, “We’re just dating, Peter. We’re trying this out. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you, it’s a recent thing, I promise.” Steve had a warm and sincere lilt to his voice that he could tell Peter was struggling to be angry at.

“What he said,” Tony yawned. “Who walks into someone’s bedroom without knocking anyway?”

“You do it to me!”

“Okay, I’ll give you that,” Tony just shook his head. “What do we need to clear up for you so that we can go back to bed?”

Peter looked thoughtful and then just patted his own sides. “I don’t know…are you happy?”

Tony blinked, “Yeah, I think so.” He looked at Steve who just nodded.

“We’re trying to be. I know this is a big news for you, and I didn’t want you to find out this way. I was going to tell you myself if Tony didn’t.”

Tony shot him a look, somehow Steve being all dad-ly was turning him on.

Peter blew air out of his lips and then just shrugged, “I was going to ask if you wanted to go out for a morning milkshake if you were still awake. But, I’ll let you go back to bed. It’s fine, it’s just…different. We can talk about it more later.”

“Do you want a hug?” Tony offered in a way that was half-sincere and half-sarcastic.

“No, Dad,” Peter huffed. “I’m good. I’m glad you guys are happy. Just…warn a dude first.”

“I’ll think about it,” Tony said, watching Peter leave, feeling tired all over again. “Well that’s a way to wake up, huh?”

Instead of responding, Steve just looked at him and said, “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard him call you ‘Dad.’”

Tony shrugged, closing the door and then getting back in bed. Once he was all covered up he threw his arms above his head, under his pillow, and then laid his head down. He looked up at Steve with an actual smile. “He’s my kid.”

Steve looked at the door thoughtfully, then to Tony, leaning down and kissing him. “You need more sleep.”

“Yeah? Alright super-soldier, leave me then.”

“I’ll stay.” Steve got comfy, throwing his arm over Tony’s chest and cuddling up beside him, almost like women used to lay on him. He was just too darn precious to move or fight him on it. So he went back to sleep hoping his kid wasn’t scarred too bad from this.

A few weeks and no new leads later, Tony was frustrated. There was no feeling quite like knowing that all the money and manpower in the world hadn’t brought him any closer to figuring out who’d tried to hurt his boy. He spent many mornings just staring into his cup of coffee until it got cold, thinking about what it was he was missing. This “morning” wasn’t much different, except this time, Cap came and sat next to him.

“Hey Tony,” he said, putting a hand on his shoulder and leaning over to kiss his cheek. “You coming to dinner?” Tony’d just woken up a few minutes shy of 6 o’clock. Peter was back in school—with heaps of private security—and he wasn’t liking it all. Steve’s hand did make him feel better though. He was always thankful when Cap was there, and ever since they’d become lovers he’d seen how attentive and sweet Steve was. He was kind of more doting than Pepper.

“Hey, Steve. Nah, not that hungry.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

Tony looked at him took a deep sigh and then nodded, rubbing his face. “Yeah, I can think of a few things.” He was half-joking.

Cap looked at him and stood. “Well come on then.” His voice was a suggestive, deep purr.

Stark blinked, heat roiling in his groin, and he quickly stood to join him, the idea sounding suddenly pretty freaking good. Steve took Tony to his own bedroom on the residential floor—of course it was cleaner than a barrack—and the moment they were inside he kissed him, pressing Tony up against the door. Tony wrapped his arms around Steve, hungry for him. Steve kissed him wetly, opening his mouth and shoving their bodies together. Tony’s tongue wrapped around Steve’s and he moaned as Steve pulled their bodies close.

“Steve,” he panted against his lips, breaking their kiss and kiss-biting his way down Steve’s jaw. Steve let Tony suck and bite at the warmest, softest part of his neck, rubbing Tony’s sides. “I want to show you something new.”

Steve turned and kissed his ear, hands still feeling up his body. “Okay,” Steve agreed, seeming excited for it. Tony liked how even though Steve was a confident and open lover, sometimes he was shy and adorably eager. Tony had begun to wonder if that super-serum made him horny because of just how much Steve seemed to enjoy and initiate intimacy when given the chance. It made him eat everything in the freaking compound, and he had energy for days, so he thought it made sense.

Tony led Steve over to the bed, letting him lie back on it. Once Steve was nice and comfy with his head on a pillow, Tony got on top of him and kissed him. “I like whatever’s happening here,” Tony said, stroking Steve’s incoming beard and mustache combo. It was hot, and he’d heard from everyone else just how full and sexy that beard could get—he was kind of mad he never got to see it himself.

“You do?” Cap smirked, holding Tony’s jaw in his hands and just looking up at him. Tony loved it when he got that face, even though he still wasn’t sure what it meant.

“Pfft, hell yes,” Tony snorted, kissing him again and then going lower. He kissed his stubbly chin, his collarbone, then his clothed stomach. When he got to Steve’s belt he began to undo it, hands slipping the leather strap from its buckle. Caps eyes were watching him with laser focus, and there was a small upturn of one side of his lips that made him look visibly eager—although his cheeks and ears were all kinds of red. Tony smirked, undoing Steve’s button and just reaching into his underwear, pulling Steve’s already hard member from the warmth. He’d never met a man that got turned on so fast, it was as sexy as it was kind of dorky.

He leaned down and pumped him a few times, trying to get him used to the idea. “You know why I’m down here right?”

Cap nodded, swallowing audibly and shifting his legs. How could someone look so embarrassed and enthusiastic at the same time? It was damned near precious how he could go from so domineering to whatever this was. It was that face that made him remember he was a freshly de-flowered virgin.

Tony really didn’t want to get up and get a condom. He was so ready to swallow Steve’s beautiful dick he’d nearly forgotten about it entirely. He glanced over to his side table and then back at Steve. “Do you have anything?” He honestly didn’t think the man did.

Cap shook his head, knowing what he meant, “Not that I know of.”

Tony used to get tested all the time, and since Pepper was as clean as a whistle, he knew he was alright. “Same. Can I just go for it? It’s a huge inconvenience for me to get up. I’m good if you are.” Tony’s bed was so big, it would indeed take effort to reach the side table.

“I’d like to try it,” Steve said, just breathing softly and looking as gorgeous as ever on his bed. Oh, yay.

Very much going for it, Tony leaned forward, licking the head of Cap’s member and gripping the length in a fist—god the feel of it. As he slowly pumped him, he was fascinated by how perfect and pink the tip of his cock was when his foreskin was out of the way. He licked the tip with the flat of his tongue, grinning when Cap made a quiet gasp, his leg jerking. He licked and kissed his way down the bottom base of his thick length. There, he softly massaged the other man’s balls, watching as muscles in Steve’s leg’s tensed and flexed. Licking his way back up, he took the head into his mouth and started sucking, earning him a moan-like whine from Steve. Oh, he liked that a lot, huh? When he looked up, Steve was actually looking down and to the left, biting his lip. Carefully, he took as much of Cap’s length down as he could, and slowly pulled his head back. He repeated the gesture, eyes fluttering shut at how god damned good it was for him. Steve was always so freaking clean, and due to that, the scent down here was just him and warmth.

Once he found a rhythm, he got comfortable, rubbing Steve’s thighs. The other man arched, gasping as his length disappeared into Tony’s lips with each bob of his head. It was clearly driving the blond wild, and feeling him respond like this was making him groan. Steve’s hips were moving gently against Tony’s face, twitching every now and then from little jolts of pleasure. Tony gripped Steve’s thighs and hastened his pace. He sucked hard, bobbing his head relentlessly. He was nearly nose to pubic bone each time his head came down. He was breathing hard just from the sheer thrill of it and was making clipped moans in his throat. Steve was gripping the blanket and moaning too, not seeming to know what to do with his hands. Tony couldn’t get enough of him. He wished he could deepthroat like a pornstar, but he just couldn’t. That was fine, he was able to swallow Steve down far enough anyway to please them both.

He pulled his mouth back and started sucking and licking the head only, pumping Steve’s length in a tight grip that nearly had the other man whining. By the breathy way that Steve was breathing, he could tell the head must have been his favorite, so he kept it up, sucking and pumping until Steve moaned and his hand flew into Tony’s hair.

“Oh, oh, Tony, god that feels so good,” he gasped, barely suppressing a buck of his hips. Tony smirked, as he moaned around Steve’s head, loving the way Steve was holding onto his hair. He wasn’t gripping it hard it all, but it still sent shivers to his groin. Tony could taste and feel the wet-slickness of Steve’s precum, and he was almost mad at himself for not doing this sooner. One of his hands was gripping Rogers’ hip tightly and his other was frantically pumping his length. He wanted Steve to come so bad, he wanted it on his face or in his mouth, he didn’t fucking care at that point.

Steve’s fist gripped his hair and he suddenly released, throwing his head back, body tensing. He made a loud noise, that descended into sort of moan hum as Tony continued to milk him. Steve mumbled, “Sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get it in your mouth,” through his panting.

Tony was completely prepared and swallowed what he could down, shocked as hell that it kept coming, but actually enjoying having so much of it on his tongue. He pulled is lips away, leaning back trying to wipe away some that had spilled out of the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. When he met Steve’s face the other man looked like a cross between shocked and extremely aroused. Yeah, he got that.

“It’s fine, I like it,” Tony said, taking a deep breathe and looking down at Steve’s length still in his hand. “You taste good Rogers. All of you.” He was so hard he thought he might actually die.

Steve cleared his throat, licking his lips and asking a soft, “I do?”

“Yeah.” Tony noticed Steve’s nipples through that thin shirt, since they were way more noticeable right now than usual. He couldn’t resist the temptation and lifted up the material, kissing one of his pecks, licking a nipple. Steve’s hand came to the back of his neck and he played with the fine hairs.

“That was amazing,” he breathed, fingers massaging the back of Tony’s neck.

“I usually am,” Tony said, getting a huge ego boost—that he didn’t need—from being able to make Captain Freaking America come like a champ. His Captain. He was his best friend and they were extremely attracted to each other no doubt, but whatever was happening between them…it was really nice, it was really exciting, and he actually felt honored that Steve trusted him enough to be with him like this. They didn’t have a word for what they were yet, but that was okay. It was new, it was comforting, and maybe they were just two lonely dudes trying to make it work. He set his chin on Cap’s peck, just looking up at his cute closed eyes, wondering how he felt about all this.

“Hey,” he said, throat vibrating against Cap’s chest. “How are we?”

Steve blinked, made a funny face and then smirked, “Good, I think.”

“Good,” Tony said, sitting up and stretching. “Would giving me a blow job be too much for you right now? Wanna try it?”

Steve gave it some thought and then said, “Don’t know if I’m ready for that.”

“Alright then, scooch up,” Tony helped maneuver Steve so the other man was sitting back against the headboard and pillows. “Comfy?”

“Mhm,” he said. Tony sat right between Cap’s legs, with his back pressed against Steve’s chest. It was warm and comfortable.

Tony grabbed Steve’s hand, playing with his fingers for a moment before gently guiding it to his stomach, “Give me a hand, Cap?”

Steve tentatively rubbed his hand up and down Tony’s stomach, turning his face so his lips were against Tony’s ear. He didn’t say anything, just kissed his ear in a way that made Tony quietly gasp and inhale from tingly pleasure. His nose was buried in his hair, and his lips were kissing the shell of his ear. The warmth of his breath gave him chills.

He rubbed up and down Tony’s front, sneaking his hands up Tony’s shirt and rubbing his pecks. Tony’s weren’t as impressive, but he was damn proud of his chest, and Cap seemed to like it all the same. Steve’s hands kneaded and played with his chest, then worked their way down his body, undoing his pants. There was something so kinky and wrong-right about this whole thing Tony felt lightheaded from all that blood rushing straight to his dick again. Oh, man.

Lips kissed and sucked at Tony’s jaw as hands undid his pants. Steve’s fingers wrapped around his length and slowly began to stroke him, his tip glistening from pre-cum ages ago. Tony moaned as his balls were squeezed and his stomach was lightly stroked. It felt so good he already had his lips pressed into a fine line, head leaned back over Steve’s shoulder. Steve took the opportunity to kiss Tony’s cheek and that soft warm area where his jaw met his neck. His hands began to move on his length quicker, and he could feel Steve’s breath pick up with his own. “Ohhh, Rogers, oh,” Tony hummed, lightly moving his hips into Steve’s awaiting hands. The blond pumped him all the agonizing way from balls to head and with such a firm grip it was electric. He squeezed Tony’s legs, kissed his neck and then hastened his pace. Tony shifted and started moaning quietly in time with the other man’s movements, it was just so good he could barely stand it.

The closer he got, the more he lost focus on the hot breath sending shivers down his neck and the other man’s arm clenching his torso around the ribs. Somewhere he vacantly registered Steve felt like he was already getting hard again—how the fuck—and that he was so close. “I’m almost there,” he breathed hastily, gasping at Cap’s steady hand. In no time he was moaning and drawing his knees up, clenching his toes, and coming all over Steve’s hand.

As he panted and gasped, he turned his face and kissed the man behind him sloppily. Steve’s hand was still pumping him idly, and he moaned as his overstimulated body sent little tremors down his legs. Steve was pretty fucking good at this. Why was he ever surprised? “Mhhm that was nice,” he chuckled, turning so he could kiss Steve properly. The blond wrapped an arm around Tony’s waist, hugging him close and meeting his lips, not caring at all that Tony’d just gone down on him.

“I’m so glad Tony,” Steve said, all husky and genuine. Tony could feel Steve was actually completely hard again. God, effing super soldiers. It’d be a little while before he could get it up again, but a good deed needed a reward after all. He pulled away, biting Steve’s chin and then reaching between them to palm him.

“Thank you,” he said, smirking at the surprised puppy look Cap got at being man-handled all of a sudden. He wouldn’t mind spending a few more minutes in bed if it meant he got draw more of those addictive noises from Cap’s body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to my friend BeenAsleepFor70Years! 


	9. Chapter 9

_May 2023_

“Peter Benjamin Parker.”

There was such a loud and large round of applause with hoots and hollers that it took a lot longer than it should have for the student after him to get their name called.

Tony, Steve, Happy, Rhodey, Nat, and Bucky were all standing in the crowd, shouting and clapping for Peter. Today was his graduation day. Peter had graduated, his boy had finally gotten his Master’s degree, and Tony couldn’t have been more proud. He certainly didn’t have tears in his eyes—no way—and he certainly wasn’t squeezing the life out of Cap’s hand through most of the ceremony. After the rest of the names, the speech, and the cheering, the Avengers, who were already in the back of the crowd in the stadium, made their escape quickly. Once the ceremony was over and Peter had gotten done talking to what very few friends he’d made, he found them all waiting for him in the parking lot.

Tony hugged him, kissing his head and clapping him on the back. Peter was grinning ear-to-ear. Steve even grabbed Peter, hugging him and ruffling his hair. He got hugs from every Avenger, who all congratulated him. Tony watched from afar as that dough ball Peter Quill ran through the parking lot and grabbing Parker from behind, giving him a massive bearhug, shouting, “Yeah, man!” Peter was laughing, even as Thor nearly slapped the air out of him, giving him a congratulatory pat on the back.

“Good job,” Thor said, mostly sober. He was wearing sunglasses, a beanie, and a ridiculously baggy hoodie. Nebula squeezed Peter’s shoulder, congratulating him too. She was wearing a wig and a special kind of mask SHIELD had developed which gave her someone else’s face, a small courtesy from Tony. It would have been distracting if a blue alien was walking around after all.

Once they had their hugs, all the Avengers hopped in their respective vehicles and they all drove to Avengers HQ to meet back up (the Guardians were carpooling with Bucky in his nice four-doored truck). When they arrived back at HQ, a party set up by Tony was in full-swing. There was music playing, food everywhere, and a big cake. All of the Avengers and Guardians were just so proud of the kid, and it was rare they ever got to celebrate something like this these days. It was really nice.

Tony sat watching Peter talk with other Peter (Star-Lord), and told Steve, “I raised a real-good kid.” Even if someone else did the dirty work.

Steve nodded, “Yeah.” It was the first time they’d seen the Guardians in months, and it was the first time all of them had been in the same room even longer. Peter’s birthday wasn’t something that Okoye or Captain Marvel really cared about, but they had been invited anyway. They didn’t come of course because they were too busy, but hey, that was fine. Tony’s heart felt full as he watched Peter laugh—then snort soda out of his nose at something Quill said. Peter began to whine that the soda burned, laughing hysterically and then Quill was laughing and both of them were just holding each other’s arms and laugh-crying.

He turned to Steve who was watching them with the biggest genuine smile he’d seen on the man in a long time. Steve wasn’t exactly a “smiley” guy, especially these days, but he didn’t seem so miserable anymore. In fact, Steve was becoming pretty sweet again. He himself was becoming pretty sweet again. He and Steve together? He never could have dreamed they’d work so well as a couple. Steve wasn’t his boyfriend, he didn’t like that word, it didn’t suit Rogers at all. No, Steve was…his man. It felt right after all this time, like they should have been this way from the beginning.

Tony squeezed Steve’s leg, then stood up and dinged on a glass, “Hey! Shut up!” he called. Everyone did settle down, except the Peters who had a case of the giggles.

“I just want to let everyone know how far Peter’s come in only a few short years. He’s got three degrees, he’s built approximately 2.5 spider-suits by hand, he’s building another branch of my company out of nothing, he’s already got two patents on new communication tech…and he’s just a superstar. I couldn’t have asked for a better, more talented kid in the whole world.” Stark downed his drink and then clapped, everyone else in the room following suit. Peter looked a little shy but grinned big, waving a hand.

The party devolved into watching Peter’s favorite movie, massacring the graduation cake, singing karaoke for those brave enough. Mostly they all sat as Quill, Peter, and Thor made asses of themselves. It was a lot of fun, and a really good day when they’d had so many long ones as of late. Soon everyone but Steve, Peter, and Quill turned in. Nebula said her goodbyes and went to go sulk on the ship, having her fill of contact. Thor was asleep in an armchair, snoring with crumbs on his chest and beard.

“So Peter, I’ve got a present for you,” Steve announced. Tony knew what it was, and he’d protested, but let it happen.

“Oh, yes! What is it?”

“Guess you’ll have to come and find out,” Steve said, getting up and leading the kid outside. Quill stayed behind to finish off a pizza. God he’d forgotten how good Earth cheese was. When they all got outside, Peter shouted and threw himself at a beautiful black Ducati motorcycle that was just sitting outside.

“I thought this was someone else’s, oh my god!” Peter hopped on it and squeaked whenever Steve threw him the keys. “Thank you!”

“You’ve earned it.”

“How did you get him to agree to this Steve?!” Peter asked, practically vibrating from excitement.

“Even I don’t know,” Tony was grumpy, seeing him on it made him mad…but he looked so darn happy. “Put on the helmet before you ride that thing around.”

“Okay!”

Steve wrapped his arm around Tony’s waist, pulling their sides together and chuckling.

“Don’t get too excited, my gift for you is like a million times cooler,” Tony called, watching Peter drive off shouting with verve. He knew he should have never let Peter try out Steve’s bike.

“He’ll be fine,” Steve encouraged, kissing Tony’s temple and watching Peter drive around. “He’s a better driver than you are.”

“Oh! Oh, okay, Rogers,” Tony said, pinching Steve’s ass. Steve grabbed his wrist and kissed it, smirking.

When Peter eventually did make it home safe and sound from his little victory ride, Tony did give him his present. He guided him into a room and then gestured to a table. The table had a thick stack of papers on it. Peter looked at him suspiciously and then picked them up and read them.

“Oh my god.”

“Uh, huh, yeah. Much better than a motorcycle,” he purred, even though Steve wasn’t in the room for him to rub it in.

Peter sat down, shaking his head in disbelief. “That...that was so fast…oh my god, Dad…” he just looked at the stack and then at Tony, still in shock.

The papers were the property deeds, floor plans, stock inventories, and other papers regarding the Stark Solutions complex. It was beautiful ten story building only an hour away from Avengers HQ. It had been designed to be modern, sleek, and strong in the event of an attack. There were other buildings for different divisions around it, and it all had been completed in less than four months. Tony made sure of it. He’d wanted it to be done by the time Peter graduated, and other than the initial design phase, tried to keep Peter in the dark about its progress. Peter had been so busy, he hadn’t even asked, assuming it was going to take much longer.

The kid’s eyes were wide and he just rubbed his face, not even knowing how to process the information. “It’s done…I mean…it’s there…it’s real…”

“Yeah, it sure is. I’ve taken the liberty of hiring quite a few people to get you started so the building doesn’t fall apart. The scientists you hired are already working on that silica panel research and oof—” Stark got a massive hug from Peter, so hard he could barely breathe but he just grinned and hugged him back. “You’re welcome.”

Peter wiped tears from his eyes and nodded rapidly, sniffling and trying to keep it under control. “I can’t believe this is actually happening. I’m going to make you so proud.”

“You already do.”

“Prouder! And Aunt May, she would have loved this. I can’t believe it…I’m actually gonna help so many people…” Peter’s eyes were wide and he just took a deep breath. “When I can’t stand anymore business meetings, I can still be Spider-Man. The world still needs Spider-Man…”

“Yes it does,” Tony said, rubbing his back and stepping away. “Okay squirt, go eat junk food until you throw up or something.”

“That’s a great freaking idea!” Peter snatched up the papers and disappeared.

\---

Peter ran downstairs, wanting to excitedly tell Quill all about his new compound but nearly fell over a chair when he saw what the hell Thor and Quill were doing.

Thor was leaning against one of the walls holding a soda, and Quill was gripping his hoodie front, just kissing him. Peter was so quiet that by the time they noticed him it was too late.

“Guys?!” he shouted in a cute high-pitched tone. Gross! It was like watching his two older brothers make-out. This was a huge surprise and honestly, he would never have guessed Quill was even a little gay with how much he talked about girls. Unless he was bi? He was happy for them and all but what was it with people not telling him things?! First Dad…now Quill…with _Thor_?!

“Uh, hi,” Quill said stupidly.

Thor grunted something that didn’t even sound like English.

“When did this happen?”

They looked at each other. Thor massively shrugged and Quill mumbled, “A while ago.”

“I mean, I’m happy for you, I really am! And like, you don’t have to tell me anything, but…this is just very shocking, I’m not gonna lie.”

“That’s valid,” Quill said, scratching his own hair and leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “I know, listen, I gonna tell you eventually. You’re my little bro!”

“I know, it’s okay. I, wow, Thor. Okay, well, I’m glad you guys have each other,” Peter nodded, and then flopped on a nearby chair. He shook his head, wanting to change the subject, he just couldn’t get the image of them going at it out of his head and he couldn’t deal with that right now. “I want to tell you what this is!”

He held up the stack of papers and proceeded to tell them all about it.

After some goodbyes, the Guardians headed back to space. Nebula was blessed with the ability to shut off her audio processors, because the first time she heard Quill and Thor experimenting with their newfound sexualities, she almost lost her mind. She wasn’t against it, and they were three people trapped on a ship together by trade alone, but it just sort of reminded her how isolated she was. She was one of the very few creatures in the galaxy that had no interest in sex or reproductive relationships, but she understood them. She could tell this was something the idiots needed, and she didn’t mind letting them have their fun. Thank god their puppy-love phase was over, she didn’t know if she could ever handle that again. Sometimes, she really missed talking to someone else that understood her though. She missed Gamora. Sometimes, she even missed the good parts of her father.

Even though they were smelly, annoying, loud, and obnoxious, she knew that without those two idiots eating space chips in the cockpit, she’d be lost in the galaxy, and unendingly lonely. Somewhere she took joy in taking care of them and joining the space crusades. She liked being a good guy. She liked this life. She just missed those who used to be in it. They all did. Whenever she’d sleep at night, she’d go to happier times, replaying recent memories of Gamora over and over.

They all entered a jump point and came out in a district much farther away. The communication receiver on the Benatar beeped loudly, instantly alerting them to an incoming message.

“I’ll get it,” she said, already knowing it was going to turn into a game of nose-ghost that ended in shouting.

She read the message and tilted her head a little.

“Thor, it’s for you. From a person named Er-Rin. Says he was contacted by someone named Sif who needs picked up on Aedi. There are coordinates here.” Thor was laughing and shoving Quill, but the moment he heard Sif’s name he stopped dead, standing up so quick he almost fell over.

“What did you just say?” he said, rushing over to the receiver and reading the message himself. He immediately stormed over to the captain’s chair, put in some coordinates, and they blasted off without much warning.

Quill came over, “Hey, hey, hey, who’s Sif?”

Thor’s eyes were wide and had more shine in them than they’d had in weeks, “Someone who was supposed to be dead.”

“Oh,” Quill said, putting his hands on his hips and blinking once. “Well, that’s good. Your friend I’m guessing?”

“Yes!” Thor turned to him, grinning and slapping a fist on his own leg. “She travelled with me and the Warriors Three! She is a feared Asgardian, and one of my mighty friends that helped me protect the realms. Loki told me he’d banished her and hadn’t heard from her since. She’s been presumed to be dead after all of…well you know…Anyway, she’s alive, I can’t believe it,” he said, voice filled with joy. Quill smirked, nodding and shrugging.

“If she’s that important to you, then let’s go get her. Hey, Nebula! We might have another girl on the ship! That’s cool right?”

One of Thor’s friends? Out of all the people in the galaxy, the person who could help her loneliness was a friend of Thor’s? She dearly hoped the woman was much different than him, or else she might actually go mad.

\---

Aedi was a beautiful planet that looked a lot like Earth. It was home to the Aedians, a cone-headed species of noseless aliens that were all very snooty. They weren’t unkind however, and once warned they were coming in for landing to pick up someone, let the Guardians into their airspace. The Aedians were a protective community, and one of the few species of aliens whose whole planet was at peace. Their planet thrived on an atmosphere similar to Earth’s but with more oxygen.

Quill and Nebula couldn’t recall a time when Thor was ever this excited. The moment they landed the ship, he flew out of there, running faster than Quill knew he even could. His massive (sandaled) feet kicked up white clumps of sand. The beach they’d landed on was gorgeous with blue-green waters, and there were some tree-covered mountains in the distance. It was hot, and Peter was already feeling sweaty when he made his way out of the ship.

“Sif!” Thor bellowed, running toward a woman and picking her up like a doll, twirling her around and squeezing the life out of her. She was laughing loudly, slapping him on the back and calling him funny names. Thor was beside himself with joy, shouting, jumping, and cursing.

When Thor put her down, she took a step back and just looked at him. Her face was crumpled and she started, “Thor…” then she grinned, “You look just like Volstagg! I can’t believe you can even accrue that much fat on your body!” She hugged him again, nearly picking him up from her excitement. "I'm so happy to see you. I worried about you so much, even though I know you didn't need it. I've missed you more than words can describe, my friend."

The time away had not been kind to her either of them. Even though she was all smile and laughs and joy, her body told a different story. The woman had choppy short hair, barely an inch and half long. Her muscles were much more prominent than your average woman, and she was cut and battered in some places. She had a large scar going across her lips, and her clothes were war-torn. She had on a set of armor that looked like it was harvested from about four or five different non-matching sets of armor and she was nearly as tall as Thor.

Quill thought she looked like a badass. She was pretty hot actually. Oh no…He felt it suddenly… _The jealousy_. He squinted as she continued hugging his man-friend (that's what they called each other).

“Hello, I’m Peter Quill, people call me Star-Lord,” he said, standing taller than usual and resisting the urge to deepen his voice. “Captain of that ship.”

She turned to him and looked him up and down, face breaking into a toothy smile, “Hello Star-Lord. I am the Lady Sif.” She bowed to him like a princess even though she looked like a crazy trash person from Sakaar. Nebula came over and introduced herself too. She was very uncertain about this new person.

“I’m Nebula.”

“Hello Nebula. It’s nice to meet you all. So these are the warriors you’ve been traveling with, Thor?”

Thor nodded, not having taken his eyes off of her. “Sif, you’ve got to tell me everything. Where have you been? What happened when my brother banished you? How’d you get on Aedi?”

She waved her hands, “I’ll tell you all about that later.” She grabbed a huge bag and threw it over her shoulder. “Let’s go home! I heard about New Asgard. Tell me everything.”

With a new Asgardian in their roster, they all hopped back in the ship and left the beautiful vistas of Aedi behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> [](http://i.imgur.com/wL2MtIo)  
> Aedi is a real planet in the Marvel comics, and the aliens really do be like that. ಠ_ಠ  
> 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a gratuitous chapter I’ve written because I just can’t get enough of Bucky and Nat together. This chapter does not progress the main story significantly, but it does give you a window into their life with each other. If you are not comfortable with M/F intimacy scenes or just don't like Bucky and Nat together, you can go ahead and skip it.
> 
> If you don’t mind them together…please continue on.

“Nat, I’m in the East door. Any movement?” Bucky whispered into his earpiece, squatting in a dark hallway behind a shelf. This place was a fucking mess. They were currently in what was supposed to be in an abandoned building in central Africa investigating a claim of alien tech distributors. Ever since the Chitauri invasion and the Battle of Wakanda, there were all kinds of dangerous alien weapons floating on the black market. Half of the time, the people that had them had them en masse and knew how to use them. They had a few agents working for the Avengers that could handle these sorts of missions, but Bucky had convinced Nat she needed to get out of HQ a little bit. She hadn’t left the compound in over six months, and he thought it was about time his girl got some action. Was it a mistake to go on a mission together? Probably, but he liked watching her work. It turned him on.

“Nothing,” her voice whispered. He walked quietly heel-to-toe, peeking around corners and opening doors as silently as he was able. It was raining hard outside, and he could hear the massive raindrops pounding on the shabby metal roof above him. There were dim lights on throughout the whole structure, and he’d knocked a few guys out already. They were too armed for this place not to be suspicious. Distantly, he heard the sound of a gunshot, it sounded loud even though this building was massive. The sound was soon followed by shouting.

He stood and started to run to the North side of the building, that’s where Natasha was. “Nat?” he called over the comm, “Was that you?”

Bucky heard her say, “No,” and immediately stopped running. There was junk and debris everywhere, but the clean wrappers of food and fresh garbage betrayed the presence of who ever was here. He rounded a corner just to see a large white man walking right toward him. The man didn’t get a chance to shout at him or finish pulling his gun out because Bucky rushed at him and tackled him, wrapping his arms around his neck in a chokehold. Taking his pistol off of his thigh-holster he bashed the guy in the side of the head with the butt of it. The dude crumpled to the ground unconscious.

“Bucky,” Nat said, quietly. The sound of rain was loud wherever she was. “I see crates. You should get in here. You can get to me by…” she began explaining her position to him. He followed her directions and soon he saw her lovely figure squatted in front of him. They were both wearing tactical black gear, not leather or anything glowing. She was low, right near a blown out window.

“Hey, there,” he said, eyes crinkling at her. She had heard him coming, but turned around fast anyway.

“Hi, yourself,” she whispered at him—she looked cute with all her hair stuffed in that hat—and made a hand signal. He nodded and both of them moved, going one after the other into the room ahead. There were crates stacked everywhere, and men all over the place. The men saw them the moment they got in, and immediately they broke formation and began shooting. Bucky watched Nat take cover behind a create just as a bullet hit the corner of it, exploding white powder everywhere. She started coughing and he just full-on body slammed a guy nearby. He ducked and rolled and fired back at the bozos who were calling more goons into the room. A guy got too close to him and so he ran towards him, dodging the idiot’s cheap machine gun and punching him so hard in the chest he knocked two other guys into some crates. The wood of the crates broke and out came bags of white powder, tumbling down like little bean bags.

He heard Nat shout, one of the only noises in the world that ever put him into a mindset he absolutely hated. His thoughts were suppressed, and he wasn’t holding back his actions anymore. If Nat was hurt, he needed to stop messing around. He couldn’t see her. His body knew what it could do and it did it, hurling men into walls, kicking them unconscious, firing at them quickly, and generally being a beast. He heard Nat speaking to him but couldn’t hear what she was saying over the machine gun fire and shouting.

He heard a man to his left and ducked just in time for the man’s fist to graze his hair. He turned around, grabbing the man’s arm and throwing him into a boarded window so aggressively that the board splintered and caved in. The man was half in the window and half out. Between he and Nat, the place suddenly became deadly silent in less than ten minutes.

Over the harsh rain, the only sound heard was the men groaning, shifting, or cursing at them in what sounded like French. Natasha came over too him panting. Her hat was gone and she was covered in white powder down one side. She was clutching her right arm and smirking at him.

“Drugs. Jesus,” she sighed, looking around their mess. There was still some settling white powder where Nat had kicked a guy who was sorting baggies into a table. “I’ll call this in, see what the government wants to do about it.”

Bucky nodded, shaking his head and brushing some powder out of Nat’s hair. “Sounds good.” She was alright, and that was all that mattered. Even though they both had thin bullet-proof vests on and she was a badass, it did little to ease his worrying mind. “Let’s get the hell out of here, this place stinks. I need to fix your arm.”

Nat nodded and soon the pair found themselves in a quinjet that they’d had on stealth-mode in the ruins of a nearby destroyed building. It was nighttime so it was almost overkill that the jet was invisible.This particular African town had been doing well until the Snap, which had caused massive chaos that never got fixed.

The moment they got in the craft, Bucky had Nat take off her top layers so he could look at her wound. She’d dusted most of whatever drug they’d been trying not to breathe out of her hair, and once she was just sitting there in her pants, boots, and compression bra, he got to work. A bullet had sliced open her arm, but it wasn’t deep. The thing about those kinds of injuries were that they hurt like hell even though they weren’t deadly. He sat beside her and delicately stitched her up with the small first-aid kid they always had nearby. When he was done, he sprayed it with antiseptic, and wrapped some gauze around her arm. He leaned down and kissed her shoulder, then her cheek, purring, “All better,” into her hair.

She laughed once, shoving him lightly. “Friday, take us home.” As the quinjet lifted off, Nat called every authority figure she could get ahold of, told them the issue, and then finally collapsed on a bench to take off her boots. “I swear to god Bucky, you’d think after the end of the world, more people would answer their fucking phones.” He liked that hoarse rasp her voice got when she was mad.

“I know,” he agreed. He was still in full combat gear, fingers laced across his waist just watching her do her thing. “What drug do you think that was? I don’t feel much right now.”

She shrugged, “I don’t know. I breathed some of it, but it wasn’t enough to do anything. Why, trying to get high, Barnes? You’re too old for that, it’ll give you a heart attack.”

He laughed and then stood, grabbing her by her waist and snatching her to him. “Respect your elders,” he growled, squeezing her sides.

She laughed quietly, turning in his arms and kissing him. She wrapped one arm around his neck and pressed herself against his body. He grabbed her by the hair with his normal hand and kissed her hard, even through a grin. She kissed him back, melting into his kiss and then deciding to wrap both arms around his neck. He knew that cut must be killing her, but she didn’t seem to care. Fuck he adored her.

His hands roamed her body, and soon he was biting her neck. She leaned back, letting him, and moaned softly as he sucked on that one special place on her neck that drove her nuts. His hand roamed down her back and then he slapped her ass, squeezing it through the tactical material. She made a pleased sound and then grabbed a handful of his dick through his pants. She laughed mischievously, seeming pleased with herself at the noise he made. He quickly began to undo his gear belt and pants. She helped him, and soon his pants and underwear were dropped, and he was sitting heavily on a bench. She immediately took off her own pants and underwear, climbing on his lap and kissing him. He wrapped his arms around her waist, rubbing her ass and legs. She wanted him now and he wanted her now, and in an instant their kiss went from sweet to teeth and tongue. He slipped a hand between her legs, just rubbing her warmth as she moved against him. She reached between them and grabbed his member, angling it for herself and sitting down on it slowly. He watched as she tilted her head back and moaned, eyes shut with bliss at the feeling. He made a gravelled-hum and squeezed her ass hard when she sat all the way down on top of him, skin to skin. She slowly began rocking back and forth as he held her, and he just watched, hands roaming her body.

He groaned when she canted her hips forward and back, feeling like he was drowning in her tight, hot warmth. She took off her bra, with Bucky helping, and tossed it carelessly somewhere. Just as she began to cry out quietly and wonderfully, Friday loudly alerted them.

“Incoming call from General—”

Bucking grunted, “Ignore it! Silence it, oh fuck…” he gently cupped one of her breasts, thumbing her nipple slowly and kissing her clavicle. She made a soft noise, just as Friday loudly affirmed his request. He leaned her back so he could bury his face between her breasts, kissing the soft skin there and then softly mouthing at a nipple. She pulled his head back up, kissing him hard. He kissed her back, more or less growling into her mouth as she ground her hips hard in jerky back and forth motions against him. He grabbed her by her legs, flipping them over and planting her bottom on the bench so he could stand in front of her. She grabbed his hair in her fist as he spread her legs and began pounding into her. Her breath hitched and she began to writhe against him, moaning his name in a helpless voice. He was coming undone just as fast as she was once he adjusted his angle. His thrusts were so strong that each time their hips connected it forced a noise out of her, but she just held onto him roughly, moving her body against him. Their lovemaking descended into straight-on fucking as he grabbed her leg and held it, reaching down between them and rapidly massaging her clit. He knew how to make her world spin, and that certainly did it, throwing her over the edge. She cried out and her insides clenched against him, he could feel her muscles squeezing his length in ripples and he spilled into her hard, groaning her name and continuing his harsh hip-movements. She was clinging to him and panting, and they were both pulling each other’s hair.

“Mmh,” she gasped harshly against his mouth, kissing his him gently now that she wasn’t so desperate for him. He kissed her back, putting her leg down, and just standing there kissing her for a moment. He parted their kiss to bite her neck, his metal hand slapping her right thigh. She giggled hoarsely, playing with his bun.

“I love you,” he said, kissing her unhurt shoulder.

She pet his hair, looking up at him and smiling carefully, “I know.” She guided his face to hers and kissed his lips once, “I love you, too.”

He wrapped his arms around her, and after pulling out, hoisted her up easily and carried her over to the captain’s chair where he proceeded to make out with her most of the trip home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> For those of you that may not remember, Nat can't have kids!  
> A lot of events in this fic are based off of a story my friend Silver_Centurion and made together.  
> It wasn't something written, just some mind-canons. :)  
> Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you liked it.  
> It's kind of a naughty reward for sticking around for so long...  
> 


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